Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Paradigm

Par′a-digm

,
Noun.
[F.
paradigme
, L.
paradigma
, fr. Gr. [GREEK], fr. [GREEK] to show by the side of, to set up as an example;
παρά
beside + [GREEK] to show. See
Para-
, and
Diction
.]
1.
An example; a model; a pattern.
[R.]
“The paradigms and patterns of all things.”
Cudworth.
2.
(Gram.)
An example of a conjugation or declension, showing a word in all its different forms of inflection.
3.
(Rhet.)
An illustration, as by a parable or fable.

Webster 1828 Edition


Paradigm

PARADIGM

,
Noun.
par'adim. [Gr. example, to show.] An example; a model. In grammar, an example of a verb conjugated in the several modes, tenses and persons.

Definition 2024


paradigm

paradigm

English

Alternative forms

Noun

paradigm (plural paradigms)

  1. A system of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality.
  2. An example serving as a model or pattern; a template.
    • 2000, "Estate of William F. Jenkins v. Paramount Pictures Corp.":
      According to the Fourth Circuit, “Coca-Cola” is “the paradigm of a descriptive mark that has acquired secondary meaning”.
    • 2003, Nicholas Asher and Alex Lascarides, Logics of Conversation, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0 521 65058 5, page 46:
      DRT is a paradigm example of a dynamic semantic theory, []
  3. (linguistics) A set of all forms which contain a common element, especially the set of all inflectional forms of a word or a particular grammatical category.
    The paradigm of "go" is "go, went, gone."
  4. A conceptual framework—an established thought process.
  5. A way of thinking which can occasionally lead to misleading predispositions; a prejudice. A route of mental efficiency which has presumably been verified by affirmative results/predictions.
  6. A philosophy consisting of ‘top-bottom’ ideas (namely biases which could possibly make the practitioner susceptible to the ‘confirmation bias’).

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

References

  • paradigm” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
  • paradigm” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
  • "paradigm" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.