The standard a judgment is made against. Without a stated criterion, a judgment cannot be checked or disputed.
Greek κριτήριον (kriterion, a means for judging), from κρίνειν (krinein, to judge, decide); the standard a judgment is measured against, without which the judgment cannot be checked or disputed.
The standard a judgment is made against. Without stating it plainly, no one else can check the judgment or argue with it.