Library / English Dictionary

PATTERN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A customary way of operation or behavior

Example:

they changed their dietary pattern

Synonyms:

pattern; practice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("pattern" is a kind of...):

activity (any specific behavior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pattern"):

cross dressing; transvestism; transvestitism (the practice of adopting the clothes or the manner or the sexual role of the opposite sex)

systematism (the habitual practice of systematization and classification)

naturism; nudism (going without clothes as a social practice)

ritualism (exaggerated emphasis on the importance of rites or ritualistic forms in worship)

ritual (the prescribed procedure for conducting religious ceremonies)

quotation (the practice of quoting from books or plays etc.)

papism; popery (offensive terms for the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church)

calisthenics; callisthenics (the practice of calisthenic exercises)

nonconformism (the practice of nonconformity)

mistreatment (the practice of treating (someone or something) badly)

lynch law (the practice of punishing people by hanging without due process of law)

unwritten law (law based on customary behavior)

peonage (the practice of making a debtor work for his creditor until the debt is discharged)

slaveholding; slavery (the practice of owning slaves)

lobbyism (the practice of lobbying; the activities of a lobbyist)

biologism (use of biological principles in explaining human especially social behavior)

cooperation (the practice of cooperating)

featherbedding (the practice (usually by a labor union) of requiring an employer to hire more workers than are required)

formalism (the practice of scrupulous adherence to prescribed or external forms)

one-upmanship (the practice of keeping one jump ahead of a friend or competitor)

pluralism (the practice of one person holding more than one benefice at a time)

symbolisation; symbolism; symbolization (the practice of investing things with symbolic meaning)

modernism (practices typical of contemporary life or thought)

occult; occult arts (supernatural practices and techniques)

ornamentalism (the practice of ornamental display)

cannibalism (the practice of eating the flesh of your own kind)

careerism (the practice of advancing your career at the expense of your personal integrity)

custom; usage; usance (accepted or habitual practice)

habitude (habitual mode of behavior)

fashion (characteristic or habitual practice)

Derivation:

pattern (form a pattern)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A decorative or artistic work

Example:

the coach had a design on the doors

Synonyms:

design; figure; pattern

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("pattern" is a kind of...):

decoration; ornament; ornamentation (something used to beautify)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pattern"):

motif; motive (a design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors, as in architecture or decoration)

polka dot (design consisting of a pattern of regularly spaced circular spots)

pyrograph (a design produced by pyrography)

screen saver ((computer science) a moving design that appears on a computer screen when there has been no input for a specified period of time)

sunburst (a design consisting of a central disk resembling the sun and rays emanating from it)

tattoo (a design on the skin made by tattooing)

tetraskele; tetraskelion (a figure consisting of four stylized human arms or legs (or bent lines) radiating from a center)

triskele; triskelion (a figure consisting of three stylized human arms or legs (or three bent lines) radiating from a center)

weave (pattern of weaving or structure of a fabric)

marking (a pattern of marks)

mihrab ((Islam) a design in the shape of niche in a Muslim prayer rug; during worship the niche must be pointed toward Mecca)

mandala (any of various geometric designs (usually circular) symbolizing the universe; used chiefly in Hinduism and Buddhism as an aid to meditation)

linocut (a design carved in relief into a block of linoleum)

herringbone; herringbone pattern (a pattern of columns of short parallel lines with all the lines in one column sloping one way and lines in adjacent columns sloping the other way; it is used in weaving, masonry, parquetry, embroidery)

emblem (special design or visual object representing a quality, type, group, etc.)

device (any ornamental pattern or design (as in embroidery))

decal; decalcomania (either a design that is fixed to some surface or a paper bearing the design which is to be transferred to the surface)

damascene (a design produced by inlaying gold or silver into steel)

bear claw (an incised design resembling the claw of a bear; used in Native American pottery)

argyle; argyll (a design consisting of a pattern of varicolored diamonds on a solid background (originally for knitted articles); patterned after the tartan of a clan in western Scotland)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Something regarded as a normative example

Example:

his formula for impressing visitors

Synonyms:

convention; formula; normal; pattern; rule

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("pattern" is a kind of...):

practice (knowledge of how something is usually done)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pattern"):

universal (a behavioral convention or pattern characteristic of all members of a particular culture or of all human beings)

code of behavior; code of conduct (a set of conventional principles and expectations that are considered binding on any person who is a member of a particular group)

mores ((sociology) the conventions that embody the fundamental values of a group)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Something intended as a guide for making something else

Example:

a pattern for a skirt

Synonyms:

blueprint; design; pattern

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("pattern" is a kind of...):

plan; program; programme (a series of steps to be carried out or goals to be accomplished)

Derivation:

pattern (plan or create according to a model or models)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A perceptual structure

Example:

a visual pattern must include not only objects but the spaces between them

Synonyms:

form; pattern; shape

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("pattern" is a kind of...):

structure (the complex composition of knowledge as elements and their combinations)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pattern"):

fractal ((mathematics) a geometric pattern that is repeated at every scale and so cannot be represented by classical geometry)

gestalt (a configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that it cannot be described merely as a sum of its parts)

grid (a pattern of regularly spaced horizontal and vertical lines)

kaleidoscope (a complex pattern of constantly changing colors and shapes)

mosaic (a pattern resembling a mosaic)

strand (a pattern forming a unity within a larger structural whole)

Holonyms ("pattern" is a part of...):

percept; perception; perceptual experience (the representation of what is perceived; basic component in the formation of a concept)

Derivation:

pattern (form a pattern)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A model considered worthy of imitation

Example:

the American constitution has provided a pattern for many republics

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("pattern" is a kind of...):

example; exemplar; good example; model (something to be imitated)

Derivation:

pattern (plan or create according to a model or models)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Graphical representation (in polar or Cartesian coordinates) of the spatial distribution of radiation from an antenna as a function of angle

Synonyms:

pattern; radiation diagram; radiation pattern

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("pattern" is a kind of...):

graph; graphical record; graphical recording (a visual representation of the relations between certain quantities, represented as points, plotted with reference to a set of axes)

Meronyms (parts of "pattern"):

lobe (the enhanced response of an antenna in a given direction as indicated by a loop in its radiation pattern)

Sense 8

Meaning:

The path that is prescribed for an airplane that is preparing to land at an airport

Example:

they stayed in the pattern until the fog lifted

Synonyms:

approach pattern; pattern; traffic pattern

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("pattern" is a kind of...):

itinerary; path; route (an established line of travel or access)

Meronyms (parts of "pattern"):

approach; approach path; glide path; glide slope (the final path followed by an aircraft as it is landing)

Derivation:

pattern (form a pattern)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Plan or create according to a model or models

Synonyms:

model; pattern

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "pattern" is one way to...):

copy; imitate; simulate (reproduce someone's behavior or looks)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pattern"):

scale (pattern, make, regulate, set, measure, or estimate according to some rate or standard)

sovietise; sovietize (model a country's social, political, and economic structure on the Soviet Union)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

pattern (something intended as a guide for making something else)

pattern (a model considered worthy of imitation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Form a pattern

Example:

These sentences pattern like the ones we studied before

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "pattern" is one way to...):

agree; check; correspond; fit; gibe; jibe; match; tally (be compatible, similar or consistent; coincide in their characteristics)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

pattern (a customary way of operation or behavior)

pattern (a perceptual structure)

pattern (the path that is prescribed for an airplane that is preparing to land at an airport)

Credits

 Context examples: 

This pattern of expression is comprised of unique clusters of genes and proteins that display differential levels of expression.

(Molecular Signature, NCI Thesaurus)

A microscopic finding that relates to the architectural patterns of a normal or abnormal cellular population in a tissue specimen.

(Morphologic Architectural Pattern, NCI Thesaurus)

The words are written with a broad-pointed, violet-tinted pencil of a not unusual pattern.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A specific manner, characteristic, pattern of application or the employment of, any therapeutic agent or method of treatment, especially involving the physical treatment of a condition.

(Modality, NCI Thesaurus)

A transitional cell carcinoma characterized by a micropapillary growth pattern.

(Micropapillary Transitional Cell Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)

In a microarray, biologic molecules such as DNA, RNA, or protein are placed in a pattern onto a surface such as a glass slide.

(Microarray, NCI Dictionary)

A benign epithelial neoplasm characterized by a microcystic pattern.

(Microcystic Adenoma, NCI Thesaurus)

“People usually eat food in a pattern. A chocolate lover would eat chocolate with something else,” Djoussé explains.

(Can Chocolate Really Be Good for You?, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A solid/multicystic ameloblastoma with follicular pattern in which the central cells in the odontogenic epithelial islands show squamous differentiation.

(Acanthomatous Ameloblastoma, NCI Thesaurus)

Only my pattern gown is at Hartfield.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)