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Meaning of benchmark in English:

benchmark

noun

  • 1A standard or point of reference against which things may be compared.

    ‘the pay settlement will set a benchmark for other employers and workers’
    • ‘The bidders for the women's prison all tendered below what the Government set as the benchmark for minimum standards - so the corporations were asked to up their bids.’
    • ‘The baseline then serves as a benchmark for comparing the financial implications of alternative plans.’
    • ‘The New Zealand Qualifications Authority, the agency that is meant to set the benchmark for standards in education, is saying that it is going to provide credits for picking up rubbish.’
    • ‘The standards provide a benchmark for RN practice and provide support and guidance for nurses in their everyday practice.’
    • ‘SiD, which works through the Construction Industry Council and is backed by the Health and Safety Executive, aims to provide a benchmark for standards and competence for building designers.’
    • ‘The price for being flexible has traditionally meant a lower standard of living but Payne is raising the benchmark for what defines prefabricated, mobile housing.’
    • ‘This compares favorably to benchmarks used in standard market research.’
    • ‘These tests are hence not a good benchmark for these models.’
    • ‘The survey therefore is an excellent benchmark for SME's in this area to compare themselves to businesses in the rest of the country.’
    • ‘Mindful of both the risks and the potential benefits of commercial partnerships, we set out to develop a benchmark for the scientific and ethical standards that staff in our own health authority could apply to any such offers.’
    • ‘There is no question that this new plant has set new standards in every aspect and will unquestionably become a benchmark for future factories in the future.’
    • ‘The GMC should use these same standards and thresholds as the benchmark for revalidation and fitness to practise.’
    • ‘This small, community based theatre company is gaining a reputation for quality and professionalism that is rapidly becoming something of a benchmark for other similar groups around the state.’
    • ‘She said: ‘This is a very important settlement that will provide a benchmark for all future disputes.’’
    • ‘Severin's 1976-77 Brendan expedition became his benchmark for exhaustive research and methodical preparation.’
    • ‘However, the Millennium Volunteers initiative, set up by the Government in 1999, has set a new benchmark for youth volunteering.’
    • ‘The now-suspect upper limit of 10 g/dL is also a benchmark for the World Health Organization.’
    • ‘They finished fourth last season and are the benchmark for teams like ourselves.’
    • ‘Her knowledge and skill were a benchmark for excellence.’
    • ‘If we accept 2hr 10 min as the benchmark for a male marathoner, it is worthwhile considering that in 1987, just two runners raced inside that time.’
    standard, point of reference, basis, gauge, criterion, specification, canon, convention, guide, guideline, guiding principle, norm, touchstone, yardstick, test, litmus test, barometer, indicator, measure, model, exemplar, classic example, pattern, paradigm, archetype, prototype, ideal
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    1. 1.1A test designed to evaluate or compare the performance of computer hardware or software.
      ‘we thought we'd run some benchmarks on the smartphone’
      • ‘Our hard drives and optical drives are different between our new and old tests, but those won't affect 3D graphics performance benchmarks.’
      • ‘The testing continued with the usual motherboard performance simulations and benchmarks.’
      • ‘We've used the below noted system configuration for all benchmarks with all video cards.’
      • ‘Some early benchmarks of initial SAS systems are demonstrating substantial performance improvements for a variety of I / O workloads.’
      • ‘The CPU and Multimedia benchmarks isolate the CPU, cache and memory subsystem.’
      • ‘Performance benchmarks aren't yet available for systems based on the long-awaited chip, so we'll have to see about the performance claims.’
      • ‘I took lots of photos, ran a few benchmarks, took screenshots and got system reports.’
      • ‘The test systems and the benchmarks used in the tests are slightly different.’
      • ‘We thus did not have time to run our usual set of exhaustive processor performance benchmarks.’
      • ‘In the last two months, SAP has released new documentation, bug fixes and performance benchmarks.’
      • ‘We'll report additional system benchmarks when we receive final hardware from ATI.’
      • ‘So we suspect the 9600's multitexture performance on these benchmarks will be reduced, even though the 9600 will clock higher.’
      • ‘This system's benchmarks held true to that, with good scores throughout on all components, but not as high on the 3D components.’
      • ‘Based upon performance benchmarks, you can make a reasonable estimate of how many users you can support on the existing server before you need to add another one.’
      • ‘Also, standard benchmarks establish a relative performance value between systems, which is good information.’
      • ‘One of the major tools used by any site to convey performance is benchmarks (this site included).’
      • ‘I wanted to run a couple of benchmarks with both systems using 266MHz memory.’
      • ‘Performance in all benchmarks was an improvement over the previous model.’
      • ‘The benchmark in Table 2 is designed to evaluate the performance of a server's ability to run Java applications.’
      • ‘The high benchmark of system requirements really pushes a lower to mid-range PC to its utmost capabilities.’

  • 2A surveyor's mark cut in a wall, pillar, or building and used as a reference point in measuring altitudes.

    ‘A benchmark is a survey mark made on a monument having a known location and elevation, serving as a reference point for surveying.’
    ‘The benchmark is a standard survey ordinance mark, a horizontal line about 500 millimetres long, and with a broad arrow just above it, under a small cliff on the northern face of the island.’

verb

[with object]

  • 1Evaluate (something) by comparison with a standard.

    ‘we are benchmarking our performance against external criteria’
    • ‘I haven't benchmarked the cables in comparison to a normal cable, because you wouldn't really use this kit as a long-term solution anywhere.’
    • ‘These outlets were benchmarked to international standards of quality and quantity housekeeping, maintenance and customer service certified by the globally renowned agency Bureau Veritas.’
    • ‘This ratio provides a method of standardizing data for benchmarking clinical indicators across health care agencies.’
    • ‘Clinical care is of the utmost importance to us and we benchmark our performance against a range of standards with other hospitals.’
    • ‘And we network to get feedback so that we can benchmark our performance, to provide quality assurance to our organisation.’
    • ‘These Trade References are ratified by the World Trade Organisation and are the standards that the industry is benchmarked against.’
    • ‘A comparison group was developed to benchmark the level of complications without any intervention.’
    • ‘It has been challenging to find standards or other nursing data against which to benchmark this number.’
    • ‘These will also become the basis for comparing and benchmarking schools of similar socio-economic rankings.’
    • ‘Radebe said this was a serious concern for government and suggested that the rail company's performance be benchmarked against its global peers.’
    • ‘Because many tracker funds use the All-Share, and many more benchmark performance against that index, there is often a burst of buying interest in new entrants.’
    • ‘In three weeks time, though, there are going to be large changes to the market average, which everyone is trying to benchmark their performance against.’
    • ‘Data for 1996 to 2000 was used to benchmark the performance of universities.’
    • ‘The most reliable way to benchmark loans is to compare the TAR, or Total Amount Repayable.’
    • ‘The result from one institution compared to a similar site allows managers to benchmark their performance with peers.’
    • ‘A company can measure the benefits of its portal deployment by benchmarking the performance of the company across a series of indicators on the cost and revenue side.’
    • ‘Once facility executives understand actual energy consumption, they can begin benchmarking their buildings against their competitors and even their own real estate.’
    • ‘If you cannot benchmark your performance against other farmers, budget to monitor and reduce costs, know what borrowings you can service, you are not getting value for money.’
    • ‘Using comparative data to benchmark operations enables leaders to answer questions such as: Where can we improve?’
    • ‘We will continue to benchmark our council tax to ensure it remains in line with outer London as a whole.’
    1. 1.1no object, with adverbial Give particular results during a benchmark test.
      ‘the device should benchmark at between 100 and 150 MHz’
      • ‘It benchmarks at 0.6 DMIPS/MHz, and consumes as little as 18 µW/MHz.’
      • ‘So it is not surprising that it benchmarks at more than twice the duration of the atomic counter.’
      • ‘So far it benchmarks at about 10 times faster than this box I'm using.’
      • ‘In shooting speed it benchmarks at 3fps.’
      • ‘Yet they benchmark at roughly 20% of my new web development box.’

Pronunciation

benchmark

/ˈbɛn(t)ʃmɑːk/