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Pattern

 [pat-ern; Brit. pat-n]   Example Sentences Origin

pat·tern

   [pat-ern; Brit. pat-n]
noun
1.
a decorative design, as for wallpaper, china, or textile fabrics, etc.
2.
decoration or ornament having such a design.
3.
a natural or chance marking, configuration, or design: patterns of frost on the window.
4.
a distinctive style, model, or form: a new pattern of army helmet.
5.
a combination of qualities, acts, tendencies, etc., forming a consistent or characteristic arrangement: the behavior patterns of teenagers.
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6.
an original or model considered for or deserving of imitation: Our constitution has been a pattern for those of many new republics.
7.
anything fashioned or designed to serve as a model or guide for something to be made: a paper pattern for a dress.
8.
a sufficient quantity of material for making a garment.
9.
the path of flight established for an aircraft approaching an airport at which it is to land.
10.
a diagram of lines transmitted occasionally by a television station to aid in adjusting receiving sets; test pattern.
11.
Metallurgy. a model or form, usually of wood or metal, used for giving the shape of the interior of a mold.
12.
Numismatics. a coin, either the redesign of an existing piece or the model for a new one, submitted for authorization as a regular issue.
13.
an example, instance, sample, or specimen.
14.
Gunnery, Aerial Bombing.
a.
the distribution of strikes around a target at which artillery rounds have been fired or on which bombs have been dropped.
b.
a diagram showing such distribution.
COLLAPSE
verb (used with object)
15.
to make or fashion after or according to a pattern.
16.
to cover or mark with a pattern.
17.
Chiefly British Dialect.
a.
to imitate.
b.
to attempt to match or duplicate.

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verb (used without object)
18.
to make or fall into a pattern.
Origin:
1325–75; Middle English patron < Medieval Latin patrōnus model, special use of Latin patrōnus patron

Related forms
pat·tern·a·ble, adjective
pat·terned, adjective
pat·tern·er, noun
pat·tern·less, adjective
pat·tern·like, adjective
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pat·tern·y, adjective
non·pat·terned, adjective
re·pat·tern, verb (used with object)
sem·i·pat·terned, adjective
sub·pat·tern, noun
un·pat·terned, adjective
COLLAPSE

Synonyms
1. figure. 4. kind, sort. 6. example, exemplar.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To Pattern
Example Sentences
  • Like a fingerprint, no two patterns are precisely the same.
  • These he sets against a glowing, golden pattern featuring a sequence of dragons encircled in decorative rings.
  • We have to put things through our minds to make sense of them, and our minds crave pattern and order.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
pattern1 (ˈpætən)
 
—n
1.  an arrangement of repeated or corresponding parts, decorative motifs, etc: although the notes seemed random, a careful listener could detect a pattern
2.  a decorative design: a paisley pattern
3.  a style: various patterns of cutlery
4.  a plan or diagram used as a guide in making something: a paper pattern for a dress
5.  a standard way of moving, acting, etc: traffic patterns
6.  a model worthy of imitation: a pattern of kindness
7.  a representative sample
8.  a wooden or metal shape or model used in a foundry to make a mould
9.  a.  the arrangement of marks made in a target by bullets
 b.  a diagram displaying such an arrangement
 
—vb (often foll by after or on)
10.  to model
11.  to arrange as or decorate with a pattern
 
[C14 patron, from Medieval Latin patrōnus example, from Latin: patron1]

pattern or patron2 (ˈpætərn)
 
—n
(Irish) an outdoor assembly with religious practices, traders' stalls, etc on the feast day of a patron saint
 
[C18: variant of patron1; see pattern1]
 
patron or patron2
 
—n
 
[C18: variant of patron1; see pattern1]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

pattern
1324, "the original proposed to imitation; the archetype; that which is to be copied; an exemplar" [Johnson], from O.Fr. patron, from M.L. patronus (see patron). Extended sense of "decorative design" first recorded 1582, from earlier sense of a "patron" as a model to be imitated.
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The difference in form and sense between patron and pattern wasn't firm till 1700s. Meaning "model or design in dressmaking" (especially one of paper) is first recorded 1792, in Jane Austen. Verb phrase pattern after "take as a model" is from 1878.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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