Paradigm

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈpæɹ.É™.daɪm/
• US enPR: ˈpär.É™.dÄ«m, IPA: /ˈpɛɹ.É™.daɪm/, /ˈpæɹ.É™.daɪm/

Alternative forms

• paradigma chiefly archaic

Origin

Established 1475-85 from Late Latin paradīgma, from Ancient Greek παράδειγμα (paradeigma, "pattern").

Full definition of paradigm

Noun

1. An example serving as a model or pattern; a template.
• 2000, "":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, ...
2. (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."
3. A system of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality.
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’).

Synonyms

• (example) exemplar
• (way of viewing reality) model, worldview

Derived terms

• paradigmatic
• paradigm shift
• paradigmaticism