| guideline | | |
| n. (communication) | 1. guideline | a light line that is used in lettering to help align the letters. |
| ~ line | a mark that is long relative to its width.; "He drew a line on the chart" |
| n. (cognition) | 2. guideline, road map | a detailed plan or explanation to guide you in setting standards or determining a course of action.; "the president said he had a road map for normalizing relations with Vietnam" |
| ~ plan, program, programme | a series of steps to be carried out or goals to be accomplished.; "they drew up a six-step plan"; "they discussed plans for a new bond issue" |
| ~ counseling, counselling, guidance, counsel, direction | something that provides direction or advice as to a decision or course of action. |
| n. (cognition) | 3. guideline, guidepost, rule of thumb | a rule or principle that provides guidance to appropriate behavior. |
| ~ rule, regulation | a principle or condition that customarily governs behavior.; "it was his rule to take a walk before breakfast"; "short haircuts were the regulation" |
| paragon | | |
| n. (cognition) | 1. beau ideal, idol, paragon, perfection | an ideal instance; a perfect embodiment of a concept. |
| ~ ideal | the idea of something that is perfect; something that one hopes to attain. |
| ~ gold standard | a paragon of excellence.; "academic education is the gold standard against which other educational activity is pejoratively judged" |
| n. (person) | 2. apotheosis, ideal, nonesuch, nonpareil, nonsuch, paragon, saint | model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal. |
| ~ crackerjack, jimdandy, jimhickey | someone excellent of their kind.; "he's a jimdandy of a soldier" |
| ~ role model, model | someone worthy of imitation.; "every child needs a role model" |
| ~ class act | someone who shows impressive and stylish excellence. |
| ~ humdinger | someone of remarkable excellence.; "a humdinger of a secretary" |
| pattern | | |
| n. (cognition) | 1. form, pattern, shape | a perceptual structure.; "the composition presents problems for students of musical form"; "a visual pattern must include not only objects but the spaces between them" |
| ~ structure | the complex composition of knowledge as elements and their combinations.; "his lectures have no structure" |
| ~ percept, perception, perceptual experience | the representation of what is perceived; basic component in the formation of a concept. |
| ~ fractal | (mathematics) a geometric pattern that is repeated at every scale and so cannot be represented by classical geometry. |
| ~ gestalt | a configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that it cannot be described merely as a sum of its parts. |
| ~ grid | a pattern of regularly spaced horizontal and vertical lines. |
| ~ kaleidoscope | a complex pattern of constantly changing colors and shapes. |
| ~ mosaic | a pattern resembling a mosaic. |
| ~ strand | a pattern forming a unity within a larger structural whole.; "he tried to pick up the strands of his former life"; "I could hear several melodic strands simultaneously" |
| n. (act) | 2. pattern, practice | a customary way of operation or behavior.; "it is their practice to give annual raises"; "they changed their dietary pattern" |
| ~ activity | any specific behavior.; "they avoided all recreational activity" |
| ~ biologism | use of biological principles in explaining human especially social behavior. |
| ~ cooperation | the practice of cooperating.; "economic cooperation"; "they agreed on a policy of cooperation" |
| ~ featherbedding | the practice (usually by a labor union) of requiring an employer to hire more workers than are required. |
| ~ formalism | the practice of scrupulous adherence to prescribed or external forms. |
| ~ one-upmanship | the practice of keeping one jump ahead of a friend or competitor. |
| ~ pluralism | the practice of one person holding more than one benefice at a time. |
| ~ symbolism, symbolisation, symbolization | the practice of investing things with symbolic meaning. |
| ~ modernism | practices typical of contemporary life or thought. |
| ~ occult arts, occult | supernatural practices and techniques.; "he is a student of the occult" |
| ~ ornamentalism | the practice of ornamental display. |
| ~ cannibalism | the practice of eating the flesh of your own kind. |
| ~ careerism | the practice of advancing your career at the expense of your personal integrity. |
| ~ custom, usage, usance | accepted or habitual practice. |
| ~ habitude | habitual mode of behavior. |
| ~ fashion | characteristic or habitual practice. |
| ~ lobbyism | the practice of lobbying; the activities of a lobbyist. |
| ~ slaveholding, slavery | the practice of owning slaves. |
| ~ peonage | the practice of making a debtor work for his creditor until the debt is discharged. |
| ~ unwritten law | law based on customary behavior. |
| ~ lynch law | the practice of punishing people by hanging without due process of law. |
| ~ mistreatment | the practice of treating (someone or something) badly.; "he should be punished for his mistreatment of his mother" |
| ~ nonconformism | the practice of nonconformity. |
| ~ calisthenics, callisthenics | the practice of calisthenic exercises.; "calisthenics is recommended for general good health" |
| ~ popery, papism | offensive terms for the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. |
| ~ quotation | the practice of quoting from books or plays etc..; "since he lacks originality he must rely on quotation" |
| ~ ritual | the prescribed procedure for conducting religious ceremonies. |
| ~ ritualism | exaggerated emphasis on the importance of rites or ritualistic forms in worship. |
| ~ naturism, nudism | going without clothes as a social practice. |
| ~ systematism | the habitual practice of systematization and classification. |
| ~ cross dressing, transvestism, transvestitism | the practice of adopting the clothes or the manner or the sexual role of the opposite sex. |
| n. (artifact) | 3. design, figure, pattern | a decorative or artistic work.; "the coach had a design on the doors" |
| ~ argyle, argyll | a design consisting of a pattern of varicolored diamonds on a solid background (originally for knitted articles); patterned after the tartan of a clan in western Scotland. |
| ~ bear claw | an incised design resembling the claw of a bear; used in Native American pottery. |
| ~ damascene | a design produced by inlaying gold or silver into steel. |
| ~ decal, decalcomania | either a design that is fixed to some surface or a paper bearing the design which is to be transferred to the surface. |
| ~ decoration, ornament, ornamentation | something used to beautify. |
| ~ device | any ornamental pattern or design (as in embroidery). |
| ~ emblem | special design or visual object representing a quality, type, group, etc.. |
| ~ herringbone pattern, herringbone | a pattern of columns of short parallel lines with all the lines in one column sloping one way and lines in adjacent columns sloping the other way; it is used in weaving, masonry, parquetry, embroidery. |
| ~ linocut | a design carved in relief into a block of linoleum. |
| ~ mandala | any of various geometric designs (usually circular) symbolizing the universe; used chiefly in Hinduism and Buddhism as an aid to meditation. |
| ~ mihrab | (Islam) a design in the shape of niche in a Muslim prayer rug; during worship the niche must be pointed toward Mecca. |
| ~ motif, motive | a design or figure that consists of recurring shapes or colors, as in architecture or decoration. |
| ~ polka dot | design consisting of a pattern of regularly spaced circular spots. |
| ~ pyrograph | a design produced by pyrography. |
| ~ screen saver | (computer science) a moving design that appears on a computer screen when there has been no input for a specified period of time.; "screen savers prevent the damage that occurs when the same areas of light and dark are displayed too long" |
| ~ sunburst | a design consisting of a central disk resembling the sun and rays emanating from it. |
| ~ tattoo | a design on the skin made by tattooing. |
| ~ tetraskele, tetraskelion | a figure consisting of four stylized human arms or legs (or bent lines) radiating from a center. |
| ~ triskele, triskelion | a figure consisting of three stylized human arms or legs (or three bent lines) radiating from a center. |
| ~ weave | pattern of weaving or structure of a fabric. |
| ~ marking | a pattern of marks. |
| n. (cognition) | 4. convention, formula, normal, pattern, rule | something regarded as a normative example.; "the convention of not naming the main character"; "violence is the rule not the exception"; "his formula for impressing visitors" |
| ~ practice | knowledge of how something is usually done.; "it is not the local practice to wear shorts to dinner" |
| ~ mores | (sociology) the conventions that embody the fundamental values of a group. |
| ~ code of behavior, code of conduct | a set of conventional principles and expectations that are considered binding on any person who is a member of a particular group. |
| ~ universal | a behavioral convention or pattern characteristic of all members of a particular culture or of all human beings.; "some form of religion seems to be a human universal" |
| n. (cognition) | 5. pattern | a model considered worthy of imitation.; "the American constitution has provided a pattern for many republics" |
| ~ exemplar, good example, example, model | something to be imitated.; "an exemplar of success"; "a model of clarity"; "he is the very model of a modern major general" |
| n. (cognition) | 6. blueprint, design, pattern | something intended as a guide for making something else.; "a blueprint for a house"; "a pattern for a skirt" |
| ~ plan, program, programme | a series of steps to be carried out or goals to be accomplished.; "they drew up a six-step plan"; "they discussed plans for a new bond issue" |
| n. (location) | 7. approach pattern, pattern, traffic pattern | the path that is prescribed for an airplane that is preparing to land at an airport.; "the traffic patterns around O'Hare are very crowded"; "they stayed in the pattern until the fog lifted" |
| ~ approach path, glide path, glide slope, approach | the final path followed by an aircraft as it is landing. |
| ~ itinerary, route, path | an established line of travel or access. |
| n. (communication) | 8. pattern, radiation diagram, radiation pattern | graphical representation (in polar or Cartesian coordinates) of the spatial distribution of radiation from an antenna as a function of angle. |
| ~ graph, graphical record | a visual representation of the relations between certain quantities plotted with reference to a set of axes. |
| ~ lobe | the enhanced response of an antenna in a given direction as indicated by a loop in its radiation pattern. |
| v. (creation) | 9. model, pattern | plan or create according to a model or models. |
| ~ imitate, simulate, copy | reproduce someone's behavior or looks.; "The mime imitated the passers-by"; "Children often copy their parents or older siblings" |
| ~ scale | pattern, make, regulate, set, measure, or estimate according to some rate or standard. |
| ~ sovietise, sovietize | model a country's social, political, and economic structure on the Soviet Union.; "Castro sovietized Cuba" |
| v. (stative) | 10. pattern | form a pattern.; "These sentences pattern like the ones we studied before" |
| ~ correspond, gibe, jibe, match, tally, agree, fit, check | be compatible, similar or consistent; coincide in their characteristics.; "The two stories don't agree in many details"; "The handwriting checks with the signature on the check"; "The suspect's fingerprints don't match those on the gun" |
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