What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Case vs Pattern - What's the difference?

case | pattern |

As nouns the difference between case and pattern

is that case is (label) abstract feature of a noun phrase that determines its function in a sentence, such as a grammatical case and a position while pattern is model, example.

As a verb pattern is

to apply a pattern.

case

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) cas, from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • An actual event, situation, or fact.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.}}
  • A given condition or state.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , III.10:
  • Ne wist he how to turne, nor to what place: / Was never wretched man in such a wofull cace .
  • A piece of work, specifically defined within a profession.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case . Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny
  • , chapter=4, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff. These properties were known to have belonged to a toddy drawer. He had disappeared.}}
  • (label) An instance or event as a topic of study.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April, author=John T. Jost
  • , volume=100, issue=2, page=162, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)? , passage=He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases , the fossil record.}}
  • (label) A legal proceeding, lawsuit.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
  • , title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=“Two or three months more went by?; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichbourne case , were looked forward to with palpitating interest. […]”}}
  • (label) A specific inflection of a word depending on its function in the sentence.
  • *
  • Now, the Subject of either an indicative or a subjunctive Clause is always assigned Nominative'' case''', as we see from:
    (16) (a)   I know [that ''they''/*''them''/*''their'' leave for Hawaii tomorrow]
    (16) (b)   I demand [that ''they''/*''them''/*''their'' leave for Hawaii tomorrow]
    By contrast, the Subject of an infinitive Clause is assigned ''Objective'' '''case''', as we see from:
    (17)   I want [''them''/*''they''/*''their'' to leave for Hawaii tomorrow]
    And the Subject of a ''gerund'' Clause is assigned either ''Objective'' or ''Genitive'' '''case
    : cf.
    (18)   I don't like the idea of [''them''/''their''/*''they
    leaving for Hawaii tomorrow]
  • Grammatical cases and their meanings taken either as a topic in general or within a specific language.
  • (label) An instance of a specific condition or set of symptoms.
  • A section of code representing one of the actions of a conditional switch.
  • * 2004 , Rick Miller, C++ for Artists
  • Place a break statement at the end of every case to prevent case fall-through.
  • * 2011 , Stephen Prata, C++ Primer Plus (page 275)
  • Execution does not automatically stop at the next case .
    Synonyms
    * *
    Derived terms
    * be the case * case study * court case * hard case * in case * just in case * Case
    Hyponyms
    * See also

    Verb

    (cas)
  • (obsolete) To propose hypothetical cases.
  • * L'Estrange
  • Casing upon the matter.

    See also

    *

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English cas, from .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A box that contains or can contain a number of identical items of manufacture.
  • A box, sheath, or covering generally.
  • a case''' for spectacles; the '''case of a watch
  • A piece of luggage that can be used to transport an apparatus such as a sewing machine.
  • An enclosing frame or casing.
  • a door case'''; a window '''case
  • A suitcase.
  • A piece of furniture, constructed partially of transparent glass or plastic, within which items can be displayed.
  • The outer covering or framework of a piece of apparatus such as a computer.
  • (printing, historical) A shallow tray divided into compartments or "boxes" for holding type, traditionally arranged in sets of two, the "upper case" (containing capitals, small capitals, accented) and "lower case" (small letters, figures, punctuation marks, quadrats, and spaces).
  • (typography, by extension) The nature of a piece of alphabetic type, whether a “capital” (upper case) or “small” (lower case) letter.
  • (poker slang) Four of a kind.
  • (US) A unit of liquid measure used to measure sales in the beverage industry, equivalent to 192 fluid ounces.
  • (mining) A small fissure which admits water into the workings.
  • (Knight)
    Derived terms
    * * briefcase * camel case * (noun) * case harden * letter case * lower case * packing case * sentence case * title case * upper case
    References
    * Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ISBN 978-1880069523

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (poker slang) The last remaining card of a particular rank.
  • He drew the case eight!
    References
    * Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ISBN 978-1880069523

    Verb

    (cas)
  • To place (an item or items of manufacture) into a box, as in preparation for shipment.
  • To cover or protect with, or as if with, a case; to enclose.
  • * Prescott
  • The man who, cased in steel, had passed whole days and nights in the saddle.
  • (informal) To survey (a building or other location) surreptitiously, as in preparation for a robbery.
  • * 1977 , (Michael Innes), The Gay Phoenix , ISBN 9780396074427, p. 116:
  • You are in the grounds of Brockholes Abbey, a house into which a great deal of valuable property has just been moved. And your job is to case the joint for a break in.
  • * 2014 , (Amy Goodman), From COINTELPRO to Snowden, the FBI Burglars Speak Out After 43 Years of Silence (Part 2) , Democracy Now!, January 8, 2014, 0:49 to 0:57:
  • Bonnie worked as a daycare director. She helped case the FBI office by posing as a college student interested in becoming an FBI agent.

    Statistics

    *

    pattern

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Model, example.
  • # Something from which a copy is made; a model or outline.
  • #* 1923 , ‘President Wilson’, Time , 18 Jun 1923:
  • There is no reason why all colleges and universities should be cut to the same pattern .
  • # Someone or something seen as an example to be imitated; an exemplar.
  • #* 1946 , Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy , I.16:
  • The Platonic Socrates was a pattern to subsequent philosophers for many ages.
  • #
  • #
  • # A representative example.
  • # (US) The material needed to make a piece of clothing.
  • # (textiles) The paper or cardboard template from which the parts of a garment are traced onto fabric prior to cutting out and assembling.
  • # (metalworking, dated) A full-sized model around which a mould of sand is made, to receive the melted metal. It is usually made of wood and in several parts, so as to be removed from the mould without damage.
  • # (computing) A text string containing wildcards, used for matching.
  • There were no files matching the pattern *.txt.
  • Decorative arrangement.
  • # A design, motif or decoration, especially formed from regular repeated elements.
  • #* 2003 , Valentino, ‘Is there a future in fashion's past?’, Time , 5 Feb 2003:
  • On my way to work the other day, I stopped at a church in Rome and saw a painting of the Madonna. The subtle pattern of blues and golds in the embroidery of her dress was so amazing that I used it to design a new evening dress for my haute couture.
  • # A naturally-occurring or random arrangement of shapes, colours etc. which have a regular or decorative effect.
  • #* 2011 , Rachel Cooke, The Observer , 19 Jun 2011:
  • He lifted the entire joint or fowl up into the air, speared on a carving fork, and sliced pieces off it so that they fell on the plate below in perfectly organised patterns .
  • # The given spread, range etc. of shot fired from a gun.
  • # A particular sequence of events, facts etc. which can be understood, used to predict the future, or seen to have a mathematical, geometric, statistical etc. relationship.
  • #* 1980 , ‘Shifting Targets’, Time , 6 Oct 1980:
  • The three killings pointed to an ugly new shift in the enduring pattern of violence in Northern Ireland: the mostly Protestant Ulster police, or those suspected of affiliation with them, have become more prominent targets for the I.R.A. than the British troops.
  • #* 2003 , Kate Hudson, The Guardian , 14 Aug 2003:
  • Look again at how the US and its allies behaved then, and the pattern is unmistakable.
  • # (linguistics) An intelligible arrangement in a given area of language.
  • Synonyms

    * original (1) * stencil (1) * tessellation (2) * category (3) * cycle (4) * similarity (5) * See also

    Antonyms

    * antipattern

    Derived terms

    * design pattern

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to apply a pattern
  • To make or design (anything) by, from, or after, something that serves as a pattern; to copy; to model; to imitate.
  • * Sir T. Herbert
  • [A temple] patterned from that which Adam reared in Paradise.
  • to follow an example
  • *
  • to fit into a pattern
  • To serve as an example for.
  • Synonyms

    * model * categorize (2)