Pattern vs Imprint - What's the difference?

pattern | imprint |

As nouns the difference between pattern and imprint

is that pattern is model, example while imprint is an impression; the mark left behind by printing something.

As verbs the difference between pattern and imprint

is that pattern is to apply a pattern while imprint is to leave a print, impression, image, etc.

pattern

English

(wikipedia 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)

imprint

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) empreinte, from the past participle of empreindre, from (etyl)

Noun

(en noun)

An impression; the mark left behind by printing something.

The day left an imprint in my mind.

The name and details of a publisher or printer, as printed in a book etc.; a publishing house.

A distinctive marking, symbol or logo.

The shirts bore the company imprint on the right sleeve.

Etymology 2

From (etyl) empreinter, from the past participle of empreindre, from (etyl)

Verb

(en verb)

To leave a print, impression, image, etc.

For a fee, they can imprint the envelopes with a monogram.

* Prior

And sees his num'rous herds imprint her sands.

* Cowper

Nature imprints upon whate'er we see, / That has a heart and life in it, "Be free."

* John Locke

ideas of those two different things distinctly imprinted on his mind

To learn something indelibly at a particular stage of life, such as who one's mother is.

To mark a gene as being from a particular parent so that only one of the two copies of the gene is expressed.