par·a·digm
(p r  -d m , -d m)
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 parad
gma, 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.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,
Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009.
Published by Houghton
Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Little Brother Matt's paradigm for living a good life is shifting as he's aging.
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