pattern

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English [edit]

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Etymology [edit]

Originally a variant form of patron.

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

pattern (plural patterns)

  1. Model, example.
    1. Something from which a copy is made; a model or outline. [from 14th c.]
      • 1923, ‘President Wilson’, Time, 18 Jun 1923:
        There is no reason why all colleges and universities should be cut to the same pattern.
    2. Someone or something seen as an example to be imitated; an exemplar. [from 15th c.]
      • 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.16:
        The Platonic Socrates was a pattern to subsequent philosophers for many ages.
    3. (now rare) A copy. [from 15th c.]
    4. (now only numismatics) A sample; of coins, an example which was struck but never minted. [from 16th c.]
    5. A representative example. [from 16th c.]
    6. (US) The material needed to make a piece of clothing. [from 17th c.]
  2. Decorative arrangement.
    1. A design, motif or decoration, especially formed from regular repeated elements. [from 16th c.]
      • 2003, Valentino, ‘Is there a future in fashion's past?’, Time, 5 Feb 2003:
        On my way to work the other day, I stopped at a church in Rome and saw a painting of the Madonna. The subtle pattern of blues and golds in the embroidery of her dress was so amazing that I used it to design a new evening dress for my haute couture.
    2. A naturally-occurring or random arrangement of shapes, colours etc. which have a regular or decorative effect. [from 19th c.]
      • 2011, Rachel Cooke, The Observer, 19 Jun 2011:
        He lifted the entire joint or fowl up into the air, speared on a carving fork, and sliced pieces off it so that they fell on the plate below in perfectly organised patterns.
    3. The given spread, range etc. of shot fired from a gun. [from 19th c.]
    4. A particular sequence of events, facts etc. which can be understood, used to predict the future, or seen to have a mathematical, geometric, statistical etc. relationship. [from 19th c.]
      • 1980, ‘Shifting Targets’, Time, 6 Oct 1980:
        The three killings pointed to an ugly new shift in the enduring pattern of violence in Northern Ireland: the mostly Protestant Ulster police, or those suspected of affiliation with them, have become more prominent targets for the I.R.A. than the British troops.
      • 2003, Kate Hudson, The Guardian, 14 Aug 2003:
        Look again at how the US and its allies behaved then, and the pattern is unmistakable.
    5. (linguistics) An intelligible arrangement in a given area of language.

Synonyms [edit]

Antonyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

that from which a copy is made
motif or decoration
intelligible arrangement which has a mathematical, geometric, statistical etc. relationship
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Verb [edit]

pattern (third-person singular simple present patterns, present participle patterning, simple past and past participle patterned)

  1. to apply a pattern
  2. To make or design (anything) by, from, or after, something that serves as a pattern; to copy; to model; to imitate.
    • Sir T. Herbert
      [A temple] patterned from that which Adam reared in Paradise.
  3. to follow an example
  4. to fit into a pattern
  5. (transitive) To serve as an example for.

Synonyms [edit]

Translations [edit]

apply a pattern
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