noun / verb
pattern
An example or plan used as a guide for making or shaping something.
The tailor uses a paper pattern to cut the fabric.
Etymology
Pattern developed from a word for a patron or model. An exemplary person or model became the guide copied in making other things.
More examples
- Her successful workshop serves as a pattern for future classes.
- We pattern our training program after the hospital's successful model.
- The carpenter makes patterns for carving matching chair legs.
Forms
pattern · patterns · patterned · patterning