Paradigm - Definition

n 1: systematic arrangement of all the inflected forms of a word
2: a standard or typical example; "he is the prototype of good
breeding"; "he provided America with an image of the good
father" [syn: prototype, paradigm, epitome, image]
3: the class of all items that can be substituted into the same
position (or slot) in a grammatical sentence (are in
paradigmatic relation with one another) [syn: substitution
class, paradigm]
4: the generally accepted perspective of a particular discipline
at a given time; "he framed the problem within the
psychoanalytic paradigm"