Ideal vs. Standard — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman & Fiza Rafique — Published on October 28, 2023
An ideal is a perfect model or example, while a standard is a recognized measure or criterion.
Difference Between Ideal and Standard
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
An ideal represents perfection, embodying the best possible qualities in its category. It's the epitome, something to aspire to, often abstract and might not be attainable. A standard, however, is a definitive benchmark or criterion. It is established and often accepted by a group, organization, or community as a point of reference against which things can be measured or judged.
The concept of an ideal is more aspirational. It paints a picture of perfection, whether in terms of moral values, aspirations, or concepts. While many strive to achieve their personal ideals, they recognize that they might be unattainable. Standards, in contrast, are more tangible and practical. They are set guidelines, rules, or principles that are expected to be met or adhered to.
Ideals often influence the formation of standards. For instance, societal ideals about health might influence the standards set for nutritional labeling or health education in schools. However, while ideals can change based on personal beliefs or evolving societal values, standards typically remain consistent until they are formally changed by the governing body.
Both ideals and standards play crucial roles in society. Ideals give individuals something to strive for, pushing boundaries and inspiring growth. Standards, on the other hand, maintain order, ensuring consistency and reliability across various domains. Together, they create a balance between aspiration and practicality.
Comparison Chart
Nature
Aspirational and perfect.
Recognized and established measure or criterion.
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Tangibility
Often abstract and might be unattainable.
Concrete and expected to be met.
Influence
Can shape standards based on societal values.
Maintains order and ensures consistency.
Flexibility
Can change with personal or societal evolution.
Typically consistent until formally revised.
Role
Inspires growth and pushes boundaries.
Provides a benchmark for measurement and judgment.
Compare with Definitions
Ideal
A perfect model or example.
She's the ideal candidate for the job.
Standard
Serving as or conforming to an established or accepted measurement or value
A standard unit of volume.
Ideal
A person or thing regarded as perfect.
He considered her the ideal of beauty.
Standard
Widely recognized or employed as a model of authority or excellence
A standard reference work.
Ideal
A standard of perfection or excellence.
Democracy is an ideal many nations strive for.
Standard
Acceptable but of less than top quality
A standard grade of beef.
Ideal
A concept or value worthy of pursuit.
Justice is a universal ideal.
Standard
Normal, familiar, or usual
The standard excuse.
Ideal
A conception of something in its absolute perfection
The ideal of national unity.
Standard
Commonly used or supplied
Standard car equipment.
Ideal
One that is regarded as a standard or model of perfection or excellence
The restaurant is considered the ideal in fine dining.
Standard
(Linguistics) Conforming to models or norms of usage admired by educated speakers and writers
Standard pronunciation.
Ideal
An ultimate or worthy object of endeavor; a goal
"those who regarded even a rhetorical commitment to the ideal of disarmament as irresponsibly utopian" (James Carroll).
Standard
An acknowledged measure of comparison for quantitative or qualitative value; a criterion.
Ideal
Conforming to a standard of perfection or excellence; perfect or highly satisfactory
An ideal work environment.
Standard
An object that under specified conditions defines, represents, or records the magnitude of a unit.
Ideal
Existing only in the mind; imaginary
An ideal world where everything works out fine.
Standard
The commodity or commodities used to back a monetary system.
Ideal
Lacking practicality or the possibility of realization
An ideal notion of how businesses are run.
Standard
The set proportion by weight of gold or silver to alloy metal prescribed for use in coinage.
Ideal
Existing as an archetype or pattern, especially as a Platonic idea or perception
The ideal forms.
Standard
A degree or level of requirement, excellence, or attainment
Their quality of work exceeds the standards set for the field.
Ideal
Of or relating to idealism.
Standard
Something, such as a practice or a product, that is widely recognized or employed, especially because of its excellence.
Ideal
Optimal; being the best possibility.
Standard
A set of specifications that are adopted within an industry to allow compatibility between products.
Ideal
Perfect, flawless, having no defects.
Standard
A requirement of moral conduct
The standards of polite society.
Ideal
Pertaining to ideas, or to a given idea.
Standard
The ensign of a chief of state, nation, or city.
Ideal
Existing only in the mind; conceptual, imaginary.
Standard
A long, tapering flag bearing heraldic devices distinctive of a person or corporation.
Ideal
Teaching or relating to the doctrine of idealism.
The ideal theory or philosophy
Standard
An emblem or flag of an army, raised on a pole to indicate the rallying point in battle.
Ideal
(mathematics) Not actually present, but considered as present when limits at infinity are included.
Ideal point
An ideal triangle in the hyperbolic disk is one bounded by three geodesics that meet precisely on the circle.
Standard
The colors of a mounted or motorized military unit.
Ideal
A perfect standard of beauty, intellect etc., or a standard of excellence to aim at.
Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny - Carl Schurz
Standard
Chiefly British A grade level in elementary schools.
Ideal
A subring closed under multiplication by its containing ring.
Let be the ring of integers and let be its ideal of even integers. Then the quotient ring is a Boolean ring.
The product of two ideals and is an ideal which is a subset of the intersection of and . This should help to understand why maximal ideals are prime ideals. Likewise, the union of and is a subset of .
Standard
A pedestal, stand, or base.
Ideal
A non-empty lower set (of a partially ordered set) which is closed under binary suprema (a.k.a. joins).
Standard
The large upper petal of the flower of a pea or related plant. Also called banner, vexillum.
Ideal
(set theory) A collection of sets, considered small or negligible, such that every subset of each member and the union of any two members are also members of the collection.
Formally, an ideal of a given set is a nonempty subset of the powerset such that: , and .
Standard
One of the narrow upright petals of an iris.
Ideal
A Lie subalgebra (subspace that is closed under the Lie bracket) 𝖍 of a given Lie algebra 𝖌 such that the Lie bracket [𝖌,𝖍] is a subset of 𝖍.
Standard
A shrub or small tree that through grafting or training has a single stem of limited height with a crown of leaves and flowers at its apex.
Ideal
(algebra) A subsemigroup with the property that if any semigroup element outside of it is added to any one of its members, the result must lie outside of it.
The set of natural numbers with multiplication as the monoid operation (instead of addition) has multiplicative ideals, such as, for example, the set {1, 3, 9, 27, 81, ...}. If any member of it is multiplied by a number which is not a power of 3 then the result will not be a power of three.
Standard
(Music) A composition that is continually used in repertoires
A pianist who knew dozens of Broadway standards.
Ideal
Existing in idea or thought; conceptional; intellectual; mental; as, ideal knowledge.
Standard
Falling within an accepted range of size, amount, power, quality, etc.
Ideal
Reaching an imaginary standard of excellence; fit for a model; faultless; as, ideal beauty.
There will always be a wide interval between practical and ideal excellence.
Standard
(of a tree or shrub) Growing alone as a free-standing plant; not trained on a post etc.
Ideal
Existing in fancy or imagination only; visionary; unreal.
Standard
Having recognized excellence or authority.
Standard works in history; standard authors
Ideal
Teaching the doctrine of idealism; as, the ideal theory or philosophy.
Standard
Of a usable or serviceable grade or quality.
Ideal
Imaginary.
Standard
Having a manual transmission.
Ideal
A mental conception regarded as a standard of perfection; a model of excellence, beauty, etc.
The ideal is to be attained by selecting and assembling in one whole the beauties and perfections which are usually seen in different individuals, excluding everything defective or unseemly, so as to form a type or model of the species. Thus, the Apollo Belvedere is the ideal of the beauty and proportion of the human frame.
Standard
As normally supplied (not optional).
Ideal
The idea of something that is perfect; something that one hopes to attain
Standard
(linguistics) Conforming to the standard variety.
Ideal
Model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal
Standard
A principle or example or measure used for comparison.
Ideal
Conforming to an ultimate standard of perfection or excellence; embodying an ideal
Standard
A level of quality or attainment.
Ideal
Constituting or existing only in the form of an idea or mental image or conception;
A poem or essay may be typical of its period in idea or ideal content
Standard
Something used as a measure for comparative evaluations; a model.
Ideal
Of or relating to the philosophical doctrine of the reality of ideas
Standard
A musical work of established popularity.
Ideal
The best possible version of something.
The vacation was an ideal break from work.
Standard
A rule or set of rules or requirements which are widely agreed upon or imposed by government.
Standard
The proportion of weights of fine metal and alloy established for coinage.
Standard
(sociolinguistics) standard idiom, a prestigious or standardized language variety; standard language
Standard
A bottle of wine containing 0.750 liters of fluid.
Standard
(India) Grade level in primary education.
I am in fifth standard.
Standard
A vertical pole with something at its apex.
Standard
An object supported in an upright position, such as a lamp standard.
Standard
The flag or ensign carried by a military unit.
Standard
One of the upright members that supports the horizontal axis of a transit or theodolite.
Standard
Any upright support, such as one of the poles of a scaffold.
Standard
A sturdy, woody plant whose upright stem is used to graft a less hardy ornamental flowering plant on, rather then actually planting it.
Standard
A tree of natural size supported by its own stem, and not dwarfed by grafting on the stock of a smaller species nor trained upon a wall or trellis.
Standard
The sheth of a plough.
Standard
A manual transmission vehicle.
Standard
(botany) The upper petal or banner of a papilionaceous corolla.
Standard
(shipbuilding) An inverted knee timber placed upon the deck instead of beneath it, with its vertical branch turned upward from that which lies horizontally.
Standard
A large drinking cup.
Standard
(historical) A collar of mail protecting the neck.
Standard
(slang) An expression of agreement
Standard
A flag; colors; a banner; especially, a national or other ensign.
His armies, in the following day,On those fair plains their standards proud display.
Standard
That which is established by authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, extent, value, or quality; esp., the original specimen weight or measure sanctioned by government, as the standard pound, gallon, or yard.
Standard
That which is established as a rule or model by authority, custom, or general consent; criterion; test.
The court, which used to be the standard of propriety and correctness of speech.
A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman.
Standard
The proportion of weights of fine metal and alloy established by authority.
By the present standard of the coinage, sixty-two shillings is coined out of one pound weight of silver.
Standard
A tree of natural size supported by its own stem, and not dwarfed by grafting on the stock of a smaller species nor trained upon a wall or trellis.
In France part of their gardens is laid out for flowers, others for fruits; some standards, some against walls.
Standard
The upper petal or banner of a papilionaceous corolla.
Standard
An upright support, as one of the poles of a scaffold; any upright in framing.
Standard
An inverted knee timber placed upon the deck instead of beneath it, with its vertical branch turned upward from that which lies horizontally.
Standard
The sheth of a plow.
Standard
A large drinking cup.
Standard
Being, affording, or according with, a standard for comparison and judgment; as, standard time; standard weights and measures; a standard authority as to nautical terms; standard gold or silver.
Standard
Hence: Having a recognized and permanent value; as, standard works in history; standard authors.
Standard
Not supported by, or fastened to, a wall; as, standard fruit trees.
Standard
A basis for comparison; a reference point against which other things can be evaluated;
They set the measure for all subsequent work
Standard
The ideal in terms of which something can be judged;
They live by the standards of their community
Standard
A board measure = 1980 board feet
Standard
The value behind the money in a monetary system
Standard
An upright pole or beam (especially one used as a support);
Distance was marked by standards every mile
Lamps supported on standards provided illumination
Standard
Any distinctive flag
Standard
Conforming to or constituting a standard of measurement or value; or of the usual or regularized or accepted kind;
Windows of standard width
Standard sizes
The standard fixtures
Standard brands
Standard operating procedure
Standard
Commonly used or supplied;
Standard procedure
Standard car equipment
Standard
Established or widely recognized as a model of authority or excellence;
A standard reference work
Standard
Conforming to the established language usage of educated native speakers;
Standard English
Received standard English is sometimes called the King's English
Standard
Regularly and widely used or sold;
A standard size
A stock item
Standard
A recognized measure or criterion.
The company failed to meet safety standards.
Standard
A rule or principle that is used as a basis for judgment.
They violated the standards of professional conduct.
Standard
An average or normal requirement.
The standard procedure involves a background check.
Standard
Something established as a model for comparison.
Gold is the standard for monetary value.
Common Curiosities
Can ideals change over time?
Yes, ideals can evolve based on cultural, societal, or personal changes.
Are standards always achievable?
Standards are set to be achievable benchmarks, though sometimes they can be challenging.
Can one's personal ideals differ from societal ideals?
Absolutely, personal ideals can differ based on individual beliefs and experiences.
Who sets standards?
Standards can be set by organizations, governments, or consensus within communities.
How are ideals formed?
Ideals are shaped by personal beliefs, cultural values, experiences, and societal influences.
Why are standards important?
Standards ensure consistency, reliability, and often safety across various domains.
Are standards objective or subjective?
Standards aim to be objective, but their formation can be influenced by subjective factors.
Can an ideal be a standard?
While an ideal can influence a standard, an ideal represents perfection, whereas a standard is a recognized criterion.
How often are standards updated?
It varies; standards can be revised when there's new information, technology, or based on societal needs.
Can ideals conflict with standards?
At times, personal or societal ideals might conflict with established standards.
Is a gold standard the same as the standard definition of gold?
No, "gold standard" means the best or benchmark, whereas the standard definition of gold refers to the element itself.
Can something be below standard but still ideal for someone?
Yes, personal preferences or circumstances might make something ideal even if it doesn't meet a general standard.
Are standards universally accepted?
Standards might vary by region, industry, or culture, and might not be universally accepted.
Can an individual have multiple ideals?
Yes, individuals can hold multiple ideals across different areas of life.
Are all ideals unattainable?
Not necessarily; while ideals represent perfection, some might be achievable based on context.
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Procedural Law vs. Substantive LawAuthor Spotlight
Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
Co-written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
