The plural noun 'standards' is a word for a level of quality or achievement used for judging someone or something; a word for traditional principles of good behavior. Example sentence:
Improving educational standards is the job of parents working with the schools.
You measure up to my standards.
The manager of the restaurant applied stringent standards of hygiene in her kitchen.
People may be disappointed when their lives do not conform to, or agree with, the happy standards of the world as it is shown on TV.
Unkempt appearance led to low standards of maintenance of the other small green areas in the estate.
Criteria is, essentially, standards to judge something or someone by. An example sentence would be: She didn't meet the criteria to be in the club.
following gramatical rules make a sentence standard
It`s really hard to develop a positive body image in today`s standards of beauty.
Now a comprehensive European blacklist of airlines with dubious safety standards will soon be in force across the EU.
many early child-rearing practices were barbarous by modern standards. source: New Oxford American Dictionary
his idealism standards were hard to meet on the test
"The reform did much to ameliorate living standards in Africa."
My mentor maintains lofty standards and works hard to adhere to them.