Par"a*digm (?), n. [F. paradigme, L. paradigma, fr. Gr. , fr. to show by the side of, to set up as an example; beside + to show. See Para-, and Diction.]
1.
An example; a model; a pattern.
[R.] "The
paradigms and patterns of all things."
Cudworth.
2. Gram.
An example of a conjugation or declension, showing a word in all its different forms of inflection.
3. Rhet.
An illustration, as by a parable or fable.
© Webster 1913.