| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| pattern |
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| SYLLABICATION: | pat·tern |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  p t  rn |
| NOUN: | 1a. A model or original used as an archetype. b. A person or thing considered worthy of imitation. 2. A plan, diagram, or model to be followed in making things: a dress pattern. See synonyms at ideal. 3. A representative sample; a specimen. 4a. An artistic or decorative design: a paisley pattern. See synonyms at figure. b. A design of natural or accidental origin: patterns of bird formations. 5. A consistent, characteristic form, style, or method, as: a. A composite of traits or features characteristic of an individual or a group: one's pattern of behavior. b. Form and style in an artistic work or body of artistic works. 6a. The configuration of gunshots upon a target that is used as an indication of skill in shooting. b. The distribution and spread, around a targeted region, of spent shrapnel, bomb fragments, or shot from a shotgun. 7. Enough material to make a complete garment. 8. A test pattern. 9. The flight path of an aircraft about to land: a flight pattern. 10. Football A pass pattern. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: pat·terned, pat·tern·ing, pat·terns
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To make, mold, or design by following a pattern: We patterned this plan on the previous one. My daughter patterned her military career after her father's. 2. To cover or ornament with a design or pattern. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To make a pattern. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English patron, from Old French. See patron.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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