paradigm
Syllables: par·a·digm/ˈpæɹ.ə.daɪm/UK/ˈpæɹ.ə.daɪm/
paradigm noun: a pattern, a way of doing something; especially a pattern of thought, a system of beliefs, a conceptual framework.
Noun
paradigm (plural paradigms or paradigmata)
- A pattern, a way of doing something; especially a pattern of thought, a system of beliefs, a conceptual framework.
- Near-synonyms: style, model, worldview
- Thomas Kuhn's landmark “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” got people talking about paradigm shifts, to the point the word itself now suggests an incomplete or biased perspective.
- An example serving as the model for such a pattern; an exceptionally good or prototypical example of a pattern or group.
- Near-synonyms: template, exemplar, archetype, poster child; see also Thesaurus:exemplar, Thesaurus:model
- According to the Fourth Circuit, “Coca-Cola” is “the paradigm of a descriptive mark that has acquired secondary meaning”.2000, Estate of William F. Jenkins v. Paramount Pictures Corp.
- Synonyms:
- template, exemplar, archetype, poster child, byspel, case, beau ideal, case in point, embodiment, epitome
- 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 "to sing" is "sing, sang, sung". The verb "to ring" follows the same paradigm.
- Synonyms:
- paradigma
paradigm meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
paradigm in Tamil
- கருத்தியல், சிந்தனைச் சட்டகம், கருத்தோட்டம், பெண்கள், பெண்களின்
paradigm in Urdu
- مثال
paradigm in Bengali
- কোনো বিষয়ের আদর্শ নমুনা, উদাহরণ, চিন্তাধারার কাঠামো
paradigm in Malayalam
- മാതൃക, ശൈലി
More languagesFewer languages
- paradigm in Kannada
- ಮಾರ್ಪರಿಜು, ಎತ್ತುಗೆ, ಪಾಂಗುಪಟ್ಟಿ, ಕ್ರಿಯಾಮಾಲೆ
- paradigm in Arabic
- نَمَط namaṭ, نُمُوذَج numūḏaj, مِثَال miṯāl, آيَة ʔāya
- paradigm in Malay
- paradigma
- paradigm in Indonesian
- paradigma
Examples of paradigm in a sentence
- Moral panics have existed since well before the Salem witch trials — perhaps the paradigm case.
- We know what it would take, but it’s not a quick fix – it’s a paradigm shift.
- Punk stories look at the current dominant socioeconomic paradigm and don't like what they see.
Synonyms of paradigm
22 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of paradigm
| plural | paradigms |
|---|---|
| plural | paradigmata |
Origin of paradigm
From Middle English paradygme, from Late Latin paradīgma, from Ancient Greek παράδειγμα (parádeigma, “pattern”), from παραδείκνυμι (paradeíknumi, “I show [beside] or compare”) + -μα (-ma, suffix forming nouns concerning the results of actions). Doublet of paradigma.
Words formed from paradigm
Phrases with paradigm
Words that rhyme with paradigm
31 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about paradigm
- What does paradigm mean?
- Paradigm means a pattern, a way of doing something; especially a pattern of thought, a system of beliefs, a conceptual framework.
- What is paradigm in Tamil?
- Paradigm in Tamil is கருத்தியல், சிந்தனைச் சட்டகம், கருத்தோட்டம். See Paradigm meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is paradigm?
- Paradigm is a noun.
- How do you pronounce paradigm?
- Paradigm is pronounced /ˈpæɹ.ə.daɪm/ (UK).
- What is the plural of paradigm?
- The plural of paradigm is paradigms.
Words near paradigm in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: paradigm (page history and authors); paradigm (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paradigm (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paradigm (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paradigm (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paradigm (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-paradigm.ogg, en-au-paradigm.ogg.
Cite this entry: “paradigm.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/paradigm. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.