Working definition. A pattern is a repetition with difference: enough continuity to be recognised, enough variation to remain alive.
Inherited meaning
Craft, music, mathematics, nature, and science all rely on patterns to connect particulars without erasing them. A pattern can reveal order, but it can also be projected by an observer or hardened into a stereotype.
Meaning in the imagination economy
Machine learning acquires capability by finding statistical patterns in inherited data. Human imagination must do more than continue those patterns: it notices which recurrences carry wisdom, which encode historical harm, and where a break in the pattern could open another future.
What changes in practice
Ask whether the pattern is observed, inferred, or imposed. Trace what produced it, look deliberately for exceptions, and distinguish a useful regularity from a destiny.