From earlier patten, paterne, from Middle English patron, from Old French patron, from Medieval Latin patrōnus.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈpatən/, /ˈpatn̩/
• (America) IPA: /ˈpætɚn/

pattern (plural patterns)

1. Model, example.
   1. Something from which a copy is made; a model or outline. [from 14th c.]

      Synonyms: original, stencil, template

   2. Someone or something seen as an example to be imitated; an exemplar. [from 15th c.]
      • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC ↗:

        I write this to repeat most earnestly for myself all that she said to you and to let you know how sure I am that you will sooner or later find our cousin John a pattern of truth, sincerity, and goodness, when you will deeply, deeply grieve to have done him (without intending it) so much wrong.

      • 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.16:

        The Platonic Socrates was a pattern to subsequent philosophers for many ages.

   3. (now rare) A copy. [from 15th c.]
   4. (now only numismatics) A sample; of coins, an example which was struck but never minted. [from 16th c.]
   5. A representative example. [from 16th c.]
   6. (US) The material needed to make a piece of clothing. [from 17th c.]
   7. (textiles) The paper or cardboard template from which the parts of a garment are traced onto fabric prior to cutting out and assembling.
   8. (metalworking, dated) A full-sized model around which a mould of sand is made, to receive the melted metal. It is usually made of wood and in several parts, so as to be removed from the mould without damage.
   9. (computing) A text string containing wildcards, used for matching.

      There were no files matching the pattern *.txt.

   10. (software engineering, in compounds) A design pattern.
2. Coherent or decorative arrangement.
   1. A design, motif or decoration, especially formed from regular repeated elements. [from 16th c.]

      Synonyms: tessellation

      • 2003, Valentino, ‘Is there a future in fashion's past?’, Time, 5 Feb 2003:

        On my way to work the other day, I stopped at a church in Rome and saw a painting of the Madonna. The subtle pattern of blues and golds in the embroidery of her dress was so amazing that I used it to design a new evening dress for my haute couture.

   2. A naturally-occurring or random arrangement of shapes, colours etc. which have a regular or decorative effect. [from 19th c.]
   3. The given spread, range etc. of shot fired from a gun. [from 19th c.]
   4. A particular sequence of events, facts etc. which can be understood, used to predict the future, or seen to have a mathematical, geometric, statistical etc. relationship. [from 19th c.]
   5. (linguistics) An intelligible arrangement in a given area of language.
   6. (computing, music) A sequence of notes, percussion etc. in a tracker module, usable once or many times within the song.
      • 2008, Karen Collins, Game Sound, page 59:

        Pattern 10 is open in figure 3.9, showing the 64 notes in the pattern (each pattern in this song has 64 beats).

      • 2017, Gerard Goggin, Mark McLelland, The Routledge Companion to Global Internet Histories, page 444:

        A MOD file contains a number of short audio samples, and instructions or a “pattern” for how and when those samples are to be played.

   7. (cellular automata) A configuration of cells in a cellular automaton universe.

      Hyponyms: breeder, eater, Garden of Eden, gun, methuselah, oscillator, puffer, rake, reflector, replicator, sawtooth, spacefiller, spaceship, spark, still life

   8. (MLE) Any arrangement or agreement, or way of conducting business.
3. (Singaporean, informal) A wont or habit to cause an annoyance or bother; to stir up trouble

   This guy always chut pattern like badminton.

4. (Ireland, Roman Catholicism) The devotions that take place within a parish on the feast day of the patron saint of that parish.

• (3) category
• (4) cycle
• (5) similarity
• See also Thesaurus:model

• antipattern

• French: modèle
• German: Muster, Schablone, Modell
• Italian: modello
• Portuguese: molde, modelo
• Russian: образе́ц
• Spanish: molde, patrón, modelo

• French: motif
• German: Muster, Struktur
• Italian: trama, struttura
• Portuguese: padrão
• Russian: узо́р
• Spanish: diseño, estampado, ornamento, adorno

• French: régularité, tendance, schéma
• Italian: schema, regolarità, forma
• Russian: закономе́рность
• Spanish: dibujo, forma

• French: patron
• German: Schnittmuster
• Italian: cartamodello
• Russian: вы́кройка

pattern (patterns, present participle patterning; simple past and past participle patterned)

1. To apply a pattern.
2. To make or design (anything) by, from, or after, something that serves as a pattern; to copy; to model; to imitate.
   • 1634, T[homas] H[erbert], A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC ↗:

     [A temple] patterned […] from that which Adam reared in Paradise.

3. To follow an example.
4. To fit into a pattern.
5. (transitive) To serve as an example for.
6. (hunting, transitive) To observe an animal closely over time in order to discern its habitual movements and behaviours.
7. (MLE) To arrange, to organise, to fix.

• model
• categorize

• German: strukturieren
• Spanish: estructurar, estampar, perfilar

pattern (not comparable)

1. Of or in accordance with a usual pattern, or type; model; ideal.
   • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC ↗, pages 168-169 ↗:

     "Not to me," interrupted his sister. "I will have no straw-bonneted, gingham-gowned pattern wives in my acquaintance. I shall make a point of cutting you."

   • 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:

     The parish duty was better attended to, and perhaps domestic duties also. At such period he was a pattern parson and a pattern husband, atoning to his own conscience for past shortcomings by present zeal.