English

Alternative forms

• paradigma (archaic)

Noun

paradigm ‎(plural paradigms)

1. A system of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality.
2. An example serving as a model or pattern; a template.
   • 2000, "Estate of William F. Jenkins v. Paramount Pictures Corp.":

     According to the Fourth Circuit, “Coca-Cola” is “the paradigm of a descriptive mark that has acquired secondary meaning”.

   • 2003, Nicholas Asher and Alex Lascarides, Logics of Conversation, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0 521 65058 5, page 46:

     DRT is a paradigm example of a dynamic semantic theory, […]

3. (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.

   The paradigm of "go" is "go, went, gone."

4. A conceptual framework—an established thought process.
5. 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.
6. A philosophy consisting of ‘top-bottom’ ideas (namely biases which could possibly make the practitioner susceptible to the ‘confirmation bias’).

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

Synonyms

• (example): exemplar
• (way of viewing reality): model, worldview
• See also Wikisaurus:model

Derived terms

• paradigmatic
• paradigm shift
• paradigmaticism

Translations

References

• “paradigm” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
• “paradigm” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• "paradigm" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.