Engineering English
Acceptance Criteria
Quality, Testing & Inspection · Software Engineering · Last updated: July 30, 2026 · How this entry was written
Definition: The documented limits, tolerances and conditions that a test result or inspection finding must satisfy for a product to be judged conforming and released.
Example in context
“The acceptance criteria for this weld allow no cracks, a maximum undercut of half a millimetre and scattered porosity within the chart limits.”
“Bu kaynağın kabul kriterleri hiçbir çatlağa izin vermez; en fazla yarım milimetre yanma çentiği ve çizelge sınırları içinde dağınık gözenekliliğe izin verilir.”
Where engineers use it
Acceptance criteria appear in test procedures, weld codes, coating specifications and factory acceptance documents. Engineers need them because raw inspection data has no meaning until it is compared with the agreed pass or fail limits.
Synonyms: Pass-Fail Criteria, Acceptance Limits
In Software Engineering
Acceptance criteria are the specific conditions that a user story must meet to be considered done and accepted by the product owner.
“The acceptance criteria for the login feature include successful authentication with valid credentials and error messages for invalid input.”
Practice: can you use “Acceptance Criteria” at work?
A supplier and a client disagree about whether a batch passed. Explain what acceptance criteria are, where they come from, and how ambiguity in them creates disputes on a project.
Show a model answer
“Compare every test result against the documented acceptance criteria.”
“Acceptance Criteria” in 21 languages
| English | Acceptance Criteria |
|---|---|
| Turkish | Kabul Kriterleri |
| French | Critères d'acceptation |
| German | Abnahmekriterien |
| Spanish | Criterios de aceptación |
| Chinese | 验收准则 |
| Arabic | معايير القبول |
| Portuguese | Critérios de aceitação |
| Russian | Критерии приёмки |
| Japanese | 合否判定基準 |
| Italian | Criteri di accettazione |
| Vietnamese | Tiêu chí nghiệm thu |
| Hindi | स्वीकृति मानदंड |
| Thai | เกณฑ์การยอมรับ |
| Indonesian | Kriteria penerimaan |
| Korean | 합격 기준 |
| Bengali | গ্রহণযোগ্যতার মানদণ্ড |
| Dutch | Acceptatiecriteria |
| Swedish | Acceptanskriterier |
| Finnish | Hyväksymiskriteerit |
| Ukrainian | Критерії приймання |
Frequently asked questions
What does Acceptance Criteria mean in engineering?
The documented limits, tolerances and conditions that a test result or inspection finding must satisfy for a product to be judged conforming and released. In Quality, Testing & Inspection, the term carries a usage-frequency rating of 10/10 in the Engineering English library.
How do you pronounce Acceptance Criteria?
Acceptance Criteria is pronounced /əkˈsɛptəns kraɪˈtɪəriə/ (IPA). The Engineering English app plays audio for the term and checks your pronunciation with speech recognition.
How is Acceptance Criteria used in a sentence?
Example from an engineering context: “The acceptance criteria for this weld allow no cracks, a maximum undercut of half a millimetre and scattered porosity within the chart limits.”
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