# paradigm

Pronunciation: US say "PAIR-uh-dym" /ˈpɛɹ.ə.daɪm/; say "PA-ruh-dym" UK /ˈpæɹ.ə.daɪm/, AUS /ˈpæɹ.ə.dɑem/

## Noun

1. A pattern or way of doing something, especially a framework of ideas and beliefs through which something is understood.
   - Simple: A way of doing or thinking about something, or the set of ideas behind it.
   - _Germ theory replaced the old paradigm, in which disease was blamed on bad air._
   - _Remote work has forced managers to rethink the paradigms they inherited about productivity._
2. An example that serves as the model for a pattern, or a prototypical or exceptionally good example of a type or group.
   - Simple: A very clear or very good example of a kind of thing, used as a model.
   - _For a generation of engineers, the old stone bridge was the paradigm of sound design._
   - _The case is a paradigm example of how a small error can derail a trial._
3. In linguistics, the full set of forms sharing a common element, especially all the inflected forms of a word or of a grammatical category.
   - Simple: In grammar, the full set of forms a word can take, such as sing, sang, sung.
   - _Students of Latin memorize the paradigm of each verb, from the present tense through the perfect._
   - _English 'dive' now has two competing paradigms, since both 'dived' and 'dove' are in use._

## Origin

Ancient Greek parádeigma ("pattern") combines paradeíknumi ("I show beside, compare") with -ma, a suffix that turns an action into a noun for its result. It came into English through Late Latin paradīgma and was established in 1475–85.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/paradigm (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).