schema

[ skee-muh ]
See synonyms for: schemaschemata on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural sche·ma·ta [skee-muh-tuh or, sometimes, skee-mah-tuh, ski-], /ˈski mə tə or, sometimes, skiˈmɑ tə, skɪ-/, sche·mas.
  1. a diagram, plan, or scheme.

  2. an underlying organizational pattern or structure; conceptual framework:A schema provides the basis by which someone relates to the events they experience.

  1. (in Kantian epistemology) a concept, similar to a universal but limited to phenomenal knowledge, by which an object of knowledge or an idea of pure reason may be apprehended.

Origin of schema

1
First recorded in 1790–1800; from Greek schêma “form, shape, appearance”

Other words for schema

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use schema in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for schema

schema

/ (ˈskiːmə) /


nounplural -mata (-mətə)
  1. a plan, diagram, or scheme

  2. (in the philosophy of Kant) a rule or principle that enables the understanding to apply its categories and unify experience: universal succession is the schema of causality

  1. psychol a mental model of aspects of the world or of the self that is structured in such a way as to facilitate the processes of cognition and perception

  2. logic an expression using metavariables that may be replaced by object language expressions to yield a well-formed formula. Thus A = A is an axiom schema for identity, representing the infinite number of axioms, x = x, y = y, z = z, etc

Origin of schema

1
C19: from Greek: form

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