model
Pluralmodels
Verbmodels
Pluralmodels
Formsmodels
- 1A particular style, type, or design of a manufactured product.
The factory stopped producing that model after sales declined.
Each model in the lineup comes with a different engine.
UsageOften with make: make and model; also this year's model, the latest model.
Similarversion, design, type, style
Note
The make names the company, and the model names the particular design, as in "What make and model of car do you drive?" with the answer "a Buick LaCrosse." Garages service "all makes and models," and carmakers speak of this year's model, because the design is expected to change from one year to the next.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- LaCrosse is a Buick car model. media.gm.com
- Annual model design changes are an established automotive practice. en.wikipedia.org
- 2A person who poses for artists or photographers, or who is employed to display clothes or other goods.
The art students sketched the model from several angles.
The model wore the designer's latest collection down the runway.
UsageModels pose for artists or photographers: a fashion model, an artist's model.
Similarsitter
- 3The underlying structural design that defines how a complex system is organized.
The new data model defined how customer records related to orders.
Architects revised the system model to support more users.
UsageCommon in data model and business model.
Similararchitecture, framework, schema, structure
- 4
- 5A simulation that represents a real-world system or event in order to study how it behaves.
The climate model projected rising sea levels over the next century.
Economists ran a model to forecast the effects of the new tax.
UsageCommon in climate model and computer model; researchers run or build a model.
Similarsimulation
- 6A successful example meant to be copied, with or without changes.
The startup served as a model for dozens of imitators.
His teaching method became a model that schools across the country adopted.
UsageA model of a quality, a model for others to follow. For a person, role model is usual.
Similartemplate, blueprint, example, pattern, prototype
Note
The word's origin shows most plainly here. It came through Italian modello from Latin modulus, a little "measure" or "standard," and is kin to mode, module and mold.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Model derives through Italian modello from Latin modulus; the wording does not claim that Italian was the immediate donor language. en.wiktionary.org
- Model and mode are etymologically related through Latin modus. en.wiktionary.org
- Model and module are etymologically related through Latin modulus. en.wiktionary.org
- Model and mold are etymological doublets. en.wiktionary.org
- 7Deserving to be treated as an example to follow; exemplary.
She was praised as a model employee for her dedication.
The teachers praised him as a model student in every class.
UsageUsually before its noun: a model employee, a model farm. After a verb, exemplary or ideal is safer.
Similarideal
Note
It is normally treated as not comparable, yet writers do grade it after a verb. Stephen Rynne's All Ireland (1956) finds the farmhouses "much more model than the farms," and earlier writers use "as model as."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- All Ireland describes the farmhouses as much more model than the farms. en.wiktionary.org
- Writers before Rynne used the expression as model as. en.wiktionary.org
- 8An organism or species studied to understand a disease or some aspect of normal or disordered body function, often a nonhuman one standing in for humans.
The fruit fly remains a powerful model for genetic research.
Researchers validated the drug in an animal model before any human trials.
UsageThe organism comes first: a mouse model, an animal model.
Note
The word carries a built-in caution. A nonhuman model only approximates human processes, so a result in a mouse model is evidence still to be tested in humans, not proof.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Nonhuman models approximate human biology, with differences that limit generalization. yourgenome.org
- Mouse findings require validation before being accepted as findings about humans. cancer.gov
- 9A computer program that has been trained on data so that it can recognize patterns, make predictions, or produce text, images or other content.
The bank trained a model on years of transaction records to flag likely fraud.
Newer language models can summarize a long report in seconds.
- 10To create or shape something, or one's own behavior, with an existing example, pattern or person as the guide; usually followed by on or after.
Ambitious young lawyers often model their careers on the senior partners they work under.
The country's new constitution was modeled after the French one, with an elected president and a two-house parliament.
Note
The word goes back to Latin modulus, "measure, standard", and this verb keeps that idea: one thing is shaped by measuring it against another. The order matters. What gets made is the object, and the original follows on or after: a constitution modeled on France's, players who model themselves on their heroes. British spelling doubles the l before an ending (modelled, modelling); American spelling keeps one (modeled, modeling).
Less common meanings
- 11To create a model of something, especially to better understand or forecast how it behaves.
Researchers model disease outbreaks to plan their response.
The software models traffic flow across the entire city.
- 12To work as a fashion or artist's model, or to wear and display clothing or other items so others can see how they look.
Many young people hope to model in big cities.
She modeled for several designers before opening her own studio.
UsageModel for a designer or an artist, or model clothes.
- 13To make a model or miniature copy of something, especially as a hobby.
Enthusiasts model historic warships in painstaking detail.
She modeled the entire village in balsa wood for the museum exhibit.
- 14To create something from a soft substance such as clay by shaping it with the hands or tools.
Sculptors model the rough form in clay before casting it in bronze.
He modeled the figure's face from a single lump of terracotta.
UsageModel a figure in clay, or from a lump of terracotta.
- 15Within the model-view-controller design pattern for software, the component or components responsible for managing an application's data.
- 16In logic, an interpretation of a formal language, especially one under which every statement in a given set is true.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of model apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
It comes from Middle French modelle, from Old Italian modello, from a Vulgar Latin *modellus, a small form of modulus ("measure, standard"), itself a small form of modus ("measure"); it is related to mode, module, and mould.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
- Model comes from Middle French modelle, through Old Italian modello, from Vulgar Latin *modellus. en.wiktionary.org
- *Modellus is a diminutive of modulus, meaning measure or standard. en.wiktionary.org
- Modulus is a diminutive of modus, meaning measure. en.wiktionary.org
- Model is etymologically related to mode through Latin modus. en.wiktionary.org
- Model is etymologically related to module through Latin modulus. en.wiktionary.org
- Model is etymologically related to mould through Latin modulus. en.wiktionary.org