Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One that serves as a pattern or model.
- n. A set or list of all the inflectional forms of a word or of one of its grammatical categories: the paradigm of an irregular verb.
- n. A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An example; a model.
- n. In grammar, an example of a word, as a noun, adjective, or verb, in its various inflections.
- n. In rhetoric, an example or illustration, of which parable and fable are species: a general term, used by Greek writers.
Wiktionary
- n. An example serving as a model or pattern; a template.
- n. 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.
- n. A system of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality.
- n. A conceptual framework—an established thought process.
- n. 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.
- n. A philosophy consisting of ‘top-bottom’ ideas (namely biases which could possibly make the practitioner susceptible to the ‘confirmation bias’).
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. rare An example; a model; a pattern.
- n. (Gram.) An example of a conjugation or declension, showing a word in all its different forms of inflection.
- n. (Rhet.) An illustration, as by a parable or fable.
- n. (Science) A theory providing a unifying explanation for a set of phenomena in some field, which serves to suggest methods to test the theory and develop a fuller understanding of the topic, and which is considered useful until it is be replaced by a newer theory providing more accurate explanations or explanations for a wider range of phenomena.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the generally accepted perspective of a particular discipline at a given time
- n. the class of all items that can be substituted into the same position (or slot) in a grammatical sentence (are in paradigmatic relation with one another)
- n. systematic arrangement of all the inflected forms of a word
- n. a standard or typical example
Etymologies
- Established 1475-85 from Late Latin paradīgma, from Ancient Greek παράδειγμα (paradeigma, "pattern"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, example, from Late Latin paradīgma, from Greek paradeigma, from paradeiknunai, to compare : para-, alongside; see para-1 + deiknunai, to show. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term "paradigm shift" is bandied around with promiscuous ease.”
“Now, the term paradigm shift is used to suggest the groundbreaking importance of statements such as this:”
The Washington Post: The big 5: A teacher's translation guide for policymakers
“Now, I think that people become angered by paradigm shifts or angered by even hearing the term paradigm shift.”
“After the 1962 publication of Structure, however, the word paradigm came to mean something bigger and more complicated than a mere example.”
“The term paradigm, however, is useful, like a Swiss Army Knife.”
“The Olympic champion of sleep-inducing jargon must be the word "paradigm.”
“A beautiful example of this paradigm is a single cell organism called ciliate – the gene assembly process in ciliates has turned out to be a very elegant computational process which even uses one of the basic data structures of computer science: the linked lists!”
“The fragility of the paradigm is apparent, they contend, when one considers that actions within the private sphere always have consequences with the public sphere, and vice versa.”
'Trivial Complaints:' The Role of Privacy in Domestic Violence Law and Activism in the U.S.
“Interestingly the paradigm is associated with an intelligent design approach; for where do we find symbolic coding systems?”
“Can she really be as articulate as she is in the second act and still fail to understand the meaning of the word "paradigm?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘paradigm’.
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A-R-A Words
It's an odd-looking pattern in English. Please add words if it makes you happy. :) K-POW! Wow @gulyasrobi!
scarab, Arawak, Sahara, Arab, pharaoh, caravan, carat, parachute, arachnid, Saran Wrap, Sarah, tarantella and 492 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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allover
reintegrate, spight, surveillant, harmonize, Colophon, workplace, bigoted, unsighted, bridgework, salutation, voltmeter, octane and 159 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
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INTERP - terminology management terms
Terms from the fields of terminology, lexicography, lexicology and corpus linguistics
reworder, rewording, parser, parsing, tagger, tagging, aligner, aligning, content analysis, content analyzer, corpus management, glossary and 546 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Burroughs
Detestable words
purulence, bête noire, exigent, exculpate, desideratum, lucriferous, concomitant, pertinacious, pervicacious, gemütlichkeit, sublimate, sanfroid and 39 more...
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Vocabulary
shibboleth, verboten, jejune, ostensible, multifarious, quintessence, purportedly, tangential, vacillate, quagmire, wanton, onerous and 74 more...
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SAT Words
Know these common SAT words
taciturn, docile, expedient, superfluous, eclectic, impromptu, dogmatic, invidious, rhetoric, tenacious, pretentious, parsimony and 14 more...
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The Vocabulary of Scholars
Words often used in News paper articles, College textbooks, Novels, Plays, Orations, and other literary prose.
You don't know them now, but bet your bottom dollar you will soon!paradigm, contingent, vendetta, patriarch, faction, partisan, inducement
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Reading Vocab
ulterior, warrant, syllogism, precious, impiety, maroon, aigrette, batiste, topsy-turvy ago, midnight crush, cantankerous, slovenly and 180 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for paradigm.

Louises See paradigm shift Mar 25, 2012
nahiku888 years ago I heard this word used ...as in Paradigm Shift... so many times, I actually started documenting the day, speaker, and number of times per lecture. ....not hearing it so much anymore...Has the paradigm shifted? Jun 20, 2009
ext11 I lost a spelling bee on this word... Mar 11, 2009
dgstone Official Definition #3: An example serving as a model; pattern.
Its meaning probably extends from its alternate definitions: "a display in fixed arrangement of such a set, as boy, boy's, boys, boys'" and "a set of forms all of which contain a particular element, esp. the set of all inflected forms based on a single stem or theme."
Mar 16, 2008
sonofgroucho @skipvia: Love the term "bullshit bingo"! Nov 25, 2007
chained_bear Uhh... wrong on both counts? Like I said... I must run in different circles!
Either that or--equally possible now that I think about it--I just tune out the bullshit. Oct 22, 2007
skipvia I can surmise that you are in neither business or education, c_b. It's at the top of the "bullshit bingo" lists in both of those circles. Oct 22, 2007
chained_bear I guess I run in different circles. Not only do I almost never hear this word, but even when I do, it doesn't have to do with shifting. Instead, it's usually used with "dominant," or else used as "paradigmatic." Oct 22, 2007
seanahan You only ever hear about paradigms shifting. What do they think they are, better than us? Those shifty bastards, moving from place to place with no regard to those they leave behind. Oct 22, 2007
jaymediane The most annoying and misused word in the English language; used intentionally by stupid people to sound smart or by smart people to sound unintentionally stupid. Oct 22, 2007