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Definition of paradigm - 4 dictionary results
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par⋅a⋅digm

  [par-uh-dahym, -dim]
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–noun
1. Grammar.
a. 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.
b. a display in fixed arrangement of such a set, as boy, boy's, boys, boys'.
2. an example serving as a model; pattern.
Origin:
1475–85; < LL paradīgma < Gk parádeigma pattern (verbid of paradeiknýnai to show side by side), equiv. to para- para- 1 + deik-, base of deiknýnai to show (see deictic ) + -ma n. suffix

Synonyms:
2. mold, standard; ideal, paragon, touchstone.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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par·a·digm   (pār'ə-dīm', -dĭm')   
n.  
  1. One that serves as a pattern or model.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.

[Middle English, example, from Late Latin paradīgma, from Greek paradeigma, from paradeiknunai, to compare : para-, alongside; see para-1 + deiknunai, to show; see deik- in Indo-European roots.]
Usage Note: Paradigm first appeared in English in the 15th century, meaning "an example or pattern," and it still bears this meaning today: Their company is a paradigm of the small high-tech firms that have recently sprung up in this area. For nearly 400 years paradigm has also been applied to the patterns of inflections that are used to sort the verbs, nouns, and other parts of speech of a language into groups that are more easily studied. Since the 1960s, paradigm has been used in science to refer to a theoretical framework, as when Nobel Laureate David Baltimore cited the work of two colleagues that "really established a new paradigm for our understanding of the causation of cancer." Thereafter, researchers in many different fields, including sociology and literary criticism, often saw themselves as working in or trying to break out of paradigms. Applications of the term in other contexts show that it can sometimes be used more loosely to mean "the prevailing view of things." The Usage Panel splits down the middle on these nonscientific uses of paradigm. Fifty-two percent disapprove of the sentence The paradigm governing international competition and competitiveness has shifted dramatically in the last three decades.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Paradigm

Par"a*digm\, n. [F. paradigme, L. paradigma, fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? to show by the side of, to set up as an example; ? beside + ? to show. See Para-, and Diction.]

1. An example; a model; a pattern. [R.] "The paradigms and patterns of all things." --Cudworth.

2. (Gram.) An example of a conjugation or declension, showing a word in all its different forms of inflection.

3. (Rhet.) An illustration, as by a parable or fable.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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paradigm 
1483, from L.L. paradigma "pattern, example," especially in grammar, from Gk. paradeigma "pattern, model," from paradeiknynai "exhibit, represent," lit. "show side by side," from para- "beside" + deiknynai "to show" (cognate with L. dicere "to show;" (see diction).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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