Definition of "benchmark" []

• A standard by which something can be measured or judged: "Inflation . . . is a great distorter of seemingly fixed economic ideas and benchmarks” ( Benjamin M. Friedman). See Synonyms at standard. (noun)
• A surveyor's mark made on a stationary object of previously determined position and elevation and used as a reference point in tidal observations and surveys. (noun)
• To measure (a rival's product) according to specified standards in order to compare it with and improve one's own product. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Furthermore, civil society contends that this benchmark is arbitrary, in that the fiscal and developmental impacts of extractives projects "occur irrespective of the size of a country's total revenues.""
• "If sea levels rise, the benchmark is their levels now."
• "Champions League above all - and try to emulate what he called the "benchmark of modern football" in terms of the attractive, progressive game they play in Barcelona."