paradigm shift
Americannoun
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a dramatic change in the paradigm of a scientific community, or a change from one scientific paradigm to another.
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a significant change in the paradigm of any discipline or group.
Putting skilled, tenured teachers in failing schools would cause a paradigm shift in teaching and education.
noun
Etymology
Origin of paradigm shift
First recorded in 1970–75
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If the climber is found guilty it could mean "a paradigm shift for mountain sports", says Austria's Der Standard newspaper.
From BBC • Feb. 17, 2026
“That’s been a total paradigm shift in how the U.S. looks at these things,” said Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026
Celine Raignault, deputy prosecutor in charge of minors and families, said "a paradigm shift" was needed.
From Barron's • Dec. 17, 2025
"This is a paradigm shift," says Donn Van Deren, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania who carried out the work while at University of Utah Health.
From Science Daily • Nov. 13, 2025
If the relativist account of science were correct, every major paradigm shift ought to be accompanied by bitter disputes between competing intellectual communities: indeed it was Kuhn’s view that this is exactly what happens.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
