paradigm in WordNet English dictionary

1. a standard or typical example
   "he is the prototype of good breeding"; "he provided America with an image of the good father"
   prototype  paradigm  epitome  image 
   
2. the generally accepted perspective of a particular discipline at a given time
   "he framed the problem within the psychoanalytic paradigm"
   paradigm 
   
3. the class of all items that can be substituted into the same position (or slot) in a grammatical sentence (are in paradigmatic relation with one another)
   substitution class  paradigm 
   
4. systematic arrangement of all the inflected forms of a word
   paradigm