litmus test

English

Etymology

From litmus +‎ test.

Noun

litmus test (plural litmus tests)

2. (chemistry) A simple, binary test for the acidity or alkalinity of a substance, using litmus paper.
4. (figuratively, by extension) Any test which produces a binary, decisive result (for example, determining whether to appoint someone to a job) by measuring a single indicator.

   Coordinate term: acid test

   Exams, not interviews, have become the litmus test for entry to university.

   • 1940 October 2, Allison Danzig, “Leading Elevens Face Stern Threats in Saturday's Games”, in New York Times, page 27:

     Temple, under its new coach, Ray Morrison, formerly of Vanderbilt, will be put to the blue litmus test Friday night when it takes on Georgetown.

   • 1998 February 16, “Baby-Boomer Bonding”, in Newsweek:

     For good reasons or bad, early membership of the currency union has become the litmus test of being a "good European."

   • 2004 November 15, Matthew Cooper, “Candidates In the Wings”, in Time‎^[1], archived from the original on 2013-02-20:

     He opposes a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage—a litmus test for many social conservatives

   • 2018 March 1, Steven Kurutz, quoting Lisa Schwarzbaum, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like ‘Manhattan’?”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     For years, quoting lines from “Manhattan” or another film by Mr. Allen on a date could be a romantic litmus test, a way to find out if a potential partner also loved E. E. Cummings, Paris, 1930s jazz and the sophisticated, cultured world the films often came to represent.

   • 2024 January 24, Dyan Perry talks to Nick Brodrick, “The industry has given me so much”, in RAIL, number 1001, page 44:

     " […] I don't know National Rail numbers, but I do know that after the pandemic I used to go round a lot of the London stations, and they had far more locations shut than I did at St Pancras. That was very much my litmus test."

Translations

chemistry

• Dutch: lakmoesproef (nl) f
• Finnish: lakmustesti (fi)
• Georgian: ლაკმუსის ტესტი (laḳmusis ṭesṭi)
• German: Lackmustest (de) m
• Italian: cartina tornasole f
• Swedish: lackmustest n

figurative senses

• Dutch: lakmoesproef (nl) f, lakmoestest m
• Georgian: ლაკმუსის ტესტი (laḳmusis ṭesṭi)
• German: Lackmustest (de) m, Nagelprobe (de) f, Prüfstein (de) m
• Italian: cartina tornasole f
• Swedish: lackmustest n

References

• “litmus test”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987–1996.