What is the difference between pattern and template?

As nouns the difference between pattern and template

is that pattern is model, example while template is a physical object whose shape is used as a guide to make other objects.

As verbs the difference between pattern and template

is that pattern is to apply a pattern while template is to set up or mark off using a template.

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)

template

English

(wikipedia template)

Noun

(en noun)

A physical object whose shape is used as a guide to make other objects.

A generic model or pattern from which other objects are based or derived.

(molecular biology) A macromolecule which provides a pattern for the synthesis of another molecule.

* {{quote-journal, 2002, S. Lottin et al., Thioredoxin post-transcriptional regulation by H19 provides a new function to mRNA-like non-coding RNA, Nature, volume=21, issue=10 citation

, passage=Classically, the functional product of coding genes is a protein whose synthesis is directed by an mRNA-template .}}

Verb

(templat)

To set up or mark off using a .

* {{quote-book, 1994, Howard I. Chapelle, Boatbuilding citation

, passage=Only that part of the floor timber that bears on the planking and keel need be templated ;

To provide a template or pattern for.

* {{quote-journal, 2003, Yu Wang et al., Synthesis and characterization of a new layered gallium phosphate templated by cobalt complex, Journal of Solid State Chemistry, volume=170, issue=1, doi=10.1016/S0022-4596(02)00060-9

, passage=Metal phosphates that are templated by transition-metal complexes are rare.}}

Derived terms

* templater