Glossary
Calibration Technician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential calibration technician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key calibration technician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in calibration technician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- As found
- Condition before adjustment.
- As left
- Condition after adjustment.
- Calibration
- Comparing an instrument to a standard.
- Calibration interval
- Time between calibrations.
- Drift
- Gradual change in accuracy.
- Gauge block
- A precise length standard.
- ISO 17025
- Lab competence standard.
- Metrology
- The science of measurement.
- NIST
- National Institute of Standards and Technology.
- Out of tolerance
- Outside limits.
- Reference standard
- A highly accurate instrument.
- Tolerance
- Allowed variation.
- Traceability
- Linking measurements to national standards.
- TUR
- Test uncertainty ratio.
- Uncertainty
- Doubt in a measurement.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Calibration Technician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Calibration Technician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.