model

/ˈmɑdl/
/ˈmɒdəl/
IPA guide

Other forms: models; modelled; modeled

To model something is to show it off. To make a model of your favorite car is to create a miniature version of it. To be a model is to be so gorgeous that you’re photographed for a living.

The word model, which can be a noun, verb, or adjective, comes from the Latin word modulus, meaning “measure,” or “standard.” If you are a model student, you do everything as the school and teachers wish: you are the standard. If you model your life on your hero's, you try to do what he or she does. If you are a clothing designer you will need to hire a model to model your creations.

Definitions of model
  1. noun
    a representation of something (sometimes on a smaller scale)
    synonyms: simulation
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    figure
    a model of a bodily form (especially of a person)
    globe
    a sphere on which a map (especially of the earth) is represented
    mock-up
    full-scale working model of something built for study or testing or display
    planetarium
    an apparatus or model for representing the solar systems
    restoration
    a model that represents the landscape of a former geological age or that represents and extinct animal etc.
    roughcast
    a rough preliminary model
    diorama
    a three-dimensional representation of a scene, in miniature or life-size, with figures and objects set against a background
    celestial globe
    a globe that is a spherical model of the heavens
    dummy
    a figure representing the human form
    figurehead
    figure on the bow of some sailing vessels
    figurine, statuette
    a small carved or molded figure
    orrery
    planetarium consisting of an apparatus that illustrates the relative positions and motions of bodies in the solar system by rotation and revolution of balls moved by wheelwork; sometimes incorporated in a clock
    marionette, puppet
    a small figure of a person operated from above with strings by a puppeteer
    snowman
    a figure of a person made of packed snow
    type of:
    representation
    a creation that is a visual or tangible rendering of someone or something
  2. noun
    the act of representing something (usually on a smaller scale)
    synonyms: modeling, modelling
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    simulation
    the act of imitating the behavior of some situation or some process by means of something suitably analogous (especially for the purpose of study or personnel training)
    war game
    a simulation of a military operation intended to train military commanders or to demonstrate a situation or to test a proposed strategy
    type of:
    representation
    an activity that stands as an equivalent of something or results in an equivalent
  3. noun
    a hypothetical description of a complex entity or process
    “the computer program was based on a model of the circulatory and respiratory systems”
    synonyms: framework, theoretical account
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    computer simulation, simulation
    (computer science) the technique of representing the real world by a computer program
    mean sun
    a theoretical sun that moves along the celestial equator at a constant speed and completes its annual course in the same amount of time the real sun takes at variable speeds
    Copernican system
    (astronomy) Copernicus' astronomical model in which the Earth rotates around the sun
    Ptolemaic system
    (astronomy) Ptolemy's model of the universe with the Earth at the center
    M-theory
    (particle physics) a theory that involves an eleven-dimensional universe in which the weak and strong forces and gravity are unified and to which all the string theories belong
    string theory
    (particle physics) a theory that postulates that subatomic particles are one-dimensional strings
    stochastic process
    a statistical process involving a number of random variables depending on a variable parameter (which is usually time)
    Markoff process, Markov process
    a simple stochastic process in which the distribution of future states depends only on the present state and not on how it arrived in the present state
    random walk
    a stochastic process consisting of a sequence of changes each of whose characteristics (as magnitude or direction) is determined by chance
    stationary stochastic process
    a stochastic process in which the distribution of the random variables is the same for any value of the variable parameter
    type of:
    hypothesis, possibility, theory
    a tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena
  4. noun
    a representative form or pattern
    synonyms: example
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    loadstar, lodestar
    something that serves as a model or guide
    epitome, image, paradigm, prototype
    a standard or typical example