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Theory vs Pattern - What's the difference?

theory | pattern |

As nouns the difference between theory and pattern

is that theory is (obsolete) mental conception; reflection, consideration while pattern is model, example.

As a verb pattern is

to apply a pattern.

theory

English

Noun

  • (obsolete) Mental conception; reflection, consideration.
  • * 1646 , (Thomas Browne), Pseudodoxia Epidemica , VII.19:
  • As they encrease the hatred of vice in some, so doe they enlarge the theory of wickednesse in all.
  • (sciences) A coherent statement or set of ideas that explains observed facts or phenomena, or which sets out the laws and principles of something known or observed; a hypothesis confirmed by observation, experiment etc.
  • * 2002 , Duncan Steel, The Guardian , 23 May 2002:
  • It was only when Einstein's theory' of relativity was published in 1915 that physicists could show that Mercury's "anomaly" was actually because Newton's gravitational ' theory was incomplete.
  • * 2003 , (Bill Bryson), A Short History of Nearly Everything , BCA, p. 118:
  • The world would need additional decades [...] before the Big Bang would begin to move from interesting idea to established theory .
  • * 2009 , (Richard Dawkins), The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence for Evolution , Bantam, p. 10:
  • Scientists and creationists are understanding the word "theory'" in two very different senses. Evolution is a '''theory''' in the same sense as the heliocentric '''theory'''. In neither case should the word "only" be used, as in "only a ' theory ".
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
  • , author=Michael Riordan , title=Tackling Infinity , volume=100, issue=1, page=86 , magazine= citation , passage=Some of the most beautiful and thus appealing physical theories', including quantum electrodynamics and quantum gravity, have been dogged for decades by infinities that erupt when theorists try to prod their calculations into new domains. Getting rid of these nagging infinities has probably occupied far more effort than was spent in originating the ' theories .}}
  • (uncountable) The underlying principles or methods of a given technical skill, art etc., as opposed to its practice.
  • * 1990 , Tony Bennett, Outside Literature , p. 139:
  • Does this mean, then, that there can be no such thing as a theory of literature?
  • * 1998 , Elizabeth Souritz, The Great History of Russian Ballet :
  • Lopukhov wrote a number of books and articles on ballet theory , as well as his memoirs.
  • (mathematics) A field of study attempting to exhaustively describe a particular class of constructs.
  • Knot theory classifies the mappings of a circle into 3-space.
  • A hypothesis or conjecture.
  • * 1999 , Wes DeMott, Vapors :
  • It's just a theory I have, and I wonder if women would agree. But don't men say a lot about themselves when a short-skirted woman slides out of a car or chair?
  • * 2003 , Sean Coughlan, The Guardian , 21 Jun 2003:
  • The theory is that by stripping costs to the bone, they are able to offer ludicrously low fares.
  • (countable, logic) A set of axioms together with all statements derivable from them. Equivalently, a formal language plus a set of axioms (from which can then be derived theorems).
  • A theory is consistent if it has a model.

    Usage notes

    In scientific discourse, the sense “unproven conjecture” is discouraged (with hypothesis or conjecture preferred), due to unintentional ambiguity and intentional equivocation with the sense “well-developed statement or structure”.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Holonyms

    * (in logic) formal system

    Meronyms

    * (in logic) axioms

    Derived terms

    * acoustic theory * algorithmic information theory * antenna theory * atomic theory * catastrophe theory * category theory * cell theory * chaos theory * circuit theory * complexity theory * computation theory * control theory * critical theory * decision theory * domino theory * extreme value theory * game theory * giant impact theory * graph theory * group theory * in theory * information theory * kinetic theory of gases * knot theory * literary theory * music theory * number theory * opponent-process theory * phlogiston theory * probability theory * proof theory * quantum field theory * rational choice theory * set theory * signal theory * social theory * systems theory * theory of gravity * theory of relativity * theory of truth * Theory X * Theory Y * type theory * value theory * virtue theory

    See also

    * axiom * postulate * proposition Check translations

    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)