Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to or serving as a typical example or model: Describes something that is a perfect or classic example of its kind, often used as a standard for comparison.
   • Relating to a set of linguistic forms (a paradigm): In linguistics, describes the relationship between words that can substitute for each other in the same grammatical context (e.g., different tenses of a verb, different cases of a noun).
   • Relating to a theoretical model or framework: Describes a fundamental model or pattern of thought in a scientific or philosophical discipline.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:
  • His career is often seen as a paradigmatic example of the self-made entrepreneur. (His career is considered a perfect, classic model of a self-made entrepreneur.)
  • In the sentence "She walks," the word "walks" is in a paradigmatic relationship with "walked" and "will walk." (These verb forms can substitute for each other to change the tense.)
  • The shift from Newtonian to Einsteinian physics represented a paradigmatic change in scientific thinking. (It was a change in the fundamental model or framework.)

Advanced Usage

• Paradigmatically (adverb): In a way that serves as a typical example or model.
  • The experiment was paradigmatically important for the field.
• The term is often contrasted with syntagmatic, which refers to the linear, sequential relationship between words in a sentence (how they combine), whereas refers to the vertical, substitutional relationship (the choices available at a given point in the sentence).

Variants and Related Words

• Paradigm (noun): A typical example, pattern, or model of something; in linguistics, the set of all inflected forms of a word.
  • This study established a new paradigm for psychological research.
• Paradigmatic shift (noun phrase): A fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline. (Often synonymous with "paradigm shift").
  • The introduction of the personal computer caused a paradigmatic shift in office work.

Synonyms

• Archetypal: Representing the most perfect or typical example.
• Quintessential: Representing the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class.
• Model: Serving as an example to be imitated or compared to.
• Exemplary: Serving as a desirable model; very good.

Antonyms

• Atypical: Not representative of a type, group, or class.
• Uncharacteristic: Not typical of a particular person or thing.
• Anomalous: Deviating from what is standard, normal, or expected.

Adjective

1. related as members of a substitution class
   • paradigmatic word associations
2. of or relating to a typical example
   • paradigmatic learning
3. of or relating to a grammatical paradigm
   • paradigmatic inflection