pattern

[pat-ern; British pat-n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pattern ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a decorative design, as for wallpaper, china, or textile fabrics, etc.

decoration or ornament having such a design.

a natural or chance marking, configuration, or design: patterns of frost on the window.

a distinctive style, model, or form: a new pattern of army helmet.

a combination of qualities, acts, tendencies, etc., forming a consistent or characteristic arrangement: the behavior patterns of teenagers.

an original or model considered for or deserving of imitation: Our constitution has been a pattern for those of many new republics.

anything fashioned or designed to serve as a model or guide for something to be made: a paper pattern for a dress.

a sufficient quantity of material for making a garment.

the path of flight established for an aircraft approaching an airport at which it is to land.

a diagram of lines transmitted occasionally by a television station to aid in adjusting receiving sets; test pattern.

Metallurgy. a model or form, usually of wood or metal, used for giving the shape of the interior of a mold.

Numismatics. a coin, either the redesign of an existing piece or the model for a new one, submitted for authorization as a regular issue.

an example, instance, sample, or specimen.

Gunnery, Aerial Bombing.

the distribution of strikes around a target at which artillery rounds have been fired or on which bombs have been dropped.
a diagram showing such distribution.

verb (used with object)

to make or fashion after or according to a pattern.

to cover or mark with a pattern.

Chiefly British Dialect.

to imitate.
to attempt to match or duplicate.

verb (used without object)

to make or fall into a pattern.

Origin of pattern

1325–75; Middle English patron < Medieval Latin patrōnus model, special use of Latin patrōnus patron

Related formspat·tern·a·ble, adjectivepat·terned, adjectivepat·tern·er, nounpat·tern·less, adjectivepat·tern·like, adjectivepat·tern·y, adjectivenon·pat·terned, adjectivere·pat·tern, verb (used with object)sem·i·pat·terned, adjectivesub·pat·tern, nounun·pat·terned, adjective

Synonyms for pattern

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pattern ON THESAURUS.COM

1. figure. 4. kind, sort. 6. example, exemplar.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for pattern

arrangement, sort, style, sequence, variety, system, method, shape, type, kind, standard, trim, motive, diagram, figure, impression, instruction, ornament, guide, decoration

Examples from the Web for pattern

Contemporary Examples of pattern

And in so many of these events, the pattern of “blame the victim” was quickly in evidence.
In 2015, Let’s Try for More Compassion
Gene Robinson
January 4, 2015
I would have told them, ‘Do not get into a pattern in which you’re intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks.
Should the U.S. Really Pay a Kim’s Ransom?
Kevin Bleyer
December 21, 2014
Although the Brits would capture New York City a few weeks later, a pattern had been set.
The British Royals Reinvade Brooklyn: William and Kate Come Watch Basketball on Historic Battle Site
Justin Jones
December 6, 2014
The endpaper features a “pattern of marbleized paper” that has been “individually designed.”
Rand Paul’s Many Leather-Bound Books
Olivia Nuzzi
November 27, 2014
The loss of his life, and all the others from this summer, back to Trayvon and well before that, are part of a pattern.
Raging Protesters Set Ferguson on Fire
Justin Glawe
November 25, 2014

Historical Examples of pattern

If I had seen it in the pattern I should have said it was impossible for your colouring.
Viviette
William J. Locke
It was precisely on the pattern of that worn by the visionary Maid.
The Threefold Destiny (From "Twice Told Tales")
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The construction of the furnaces is of the ordinary French pattern.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 433, April 19, 1884
Various
In this she may be exhibited as a pattern for the particular imitation of her own sex.
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. I
Francis Augustus Cox
You will not tire of it as you will of that which has but a commonplace form or pattern.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 497, July 11, 1885
Various

British Dictionary definitions for pattern

pattern

noun

an arrangement of repeated or corresponding parts, decorative motifs, etcalthough the notes seemed random, a careful listener could detect a pattern

a decorative designa paisley pattern

a stylevarious patterns of cutlery

a plan or diagram used as a guide in making somethinga paper pattern for a dress

a standard way of moving, acting, etctraffic patterns

a model worthy of imitationa pattern of kindness

a representative sample

a wooden or metal shape or model used in a foundry to make a mould

the arrangement of marks made in a target by bullets
a diagram displaying such an arrangement

verb (tr)

(often foll by after or on) to model

to arrange as or decorate with a pattern

Word Origin for pattern

C14 patron, from Medieval Latin patrōnus example, from Latin: patron 1

pattern

patron

noun

Irish an outdoor assembly with religious practices, traders' stalls, etc on the feast day of a patron saint

Word Origin for pattern

C18: variant of patron 1; see pattern 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pattern

early 14c., "outline, plan, model, pattern;" early 15c. as "model of behavior, exemplar," from Old French patron and directly from Medieval Latin patronus (see patron).

Extended sense of "decorative design" first recorded 1580s, from earlier sense of a "patron" as a model to be imitated. The difference in form and sense between patron and pattern wasn't firm till 1700s. Meaning "model or design in dressmaking" (especially one of paper) is first recorded 1792, in Jane Austen.

1580s, "to make a pattern for, design, plan," from pattern (n.). Meaning "to make something after a pattern" is c.1600. Phrase pattern after "take as a model" is from 1878.