prototypes

plural of prototype
1
as in examples
one of a group or collection that shows what the whole is like a literary character who is regarded as the prototype of the fanatical and intolerant pursuer of justice

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in forerunners
something belonging to an earlier time from which something else was later developed the Greek epic that is the prototype of the hero myth

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

3
as in originals
something from which copies are made the manufacturer exhaustively tested the prototype of the vehicle before approving production

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of prototypes Adding to the hype factor of the event, Funko is known to give away prototypes of its figures via raffles or trivia contests. Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 24 July 2026 Since then the team has been working on the prototypes, using 3D printing to enhance the aids to further restore patients’ sense of smell. Hannah Docter-Loeb, Scientific American, 24 July 2026 The snake robots are still very much research prototypes rather than operational tools for search and rescue. Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 24 July 2026 This approach is rapidly adopted, with 37% of US developers now vibe coding, significantly lowering barriers for entrepreneurs without programming skills to create prototypes. Sarah Hernholm, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026 Production beyond prototypes For aerospace manufacturers, additive manufacturing has increasingly moved beyond producing brackets and low-volume components. Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 21 July 2026 Years of development, countless prototypes, priceless engineering to elevate your knees 7 inches for optimal colon alignment. Greta Cross, USA Today, 21 July 2026 In traditional car manufacturing, skipping physical prototypes for 45,000 km of testing is practically unheard of. New Atlas, 15 July 2026 The company alleged that OpenAI asked ex-Apple employees in interviews about secret projects and asked them to bring in prototypes. Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 15 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for prototypes
Noun
  • The first 20 examples, numbered 001–020/00R, were reserved for supporters of François-Paul Journe's Tourbillon Souverain souscription program, whose deposits helped finance the fledgling manufacture.
    Anthony DeMarco, Forbes.com, 26 July 2026
  • Enhertu and Padcev are examples of ADCs that have extended survival by 10 and 15 months in breast and bladder cancer, respectively.
    Roderick Wong, Fortune, 25 July 2026
Noun
  • Margaret and Alice are the forerunners of Lucy and Ethel, and Shakespeare’s comedy, written expressly to entertain, gives us a sense of what an Elizabethan-era situation comedy might look like.
    Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2026
  • One of the forerunners today in Madeira and the Azores is António Maçanita from Azores Wine Company.
    Forbes.com, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026
Noun
  • Like most meat-grinder, non-auteur streaming originals, The Dink — named for an often-decisive drop shot — has the bland sheen of an insurance commercial.
    David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 21 July 2026
  • The band’s newest collection, Foreign Tongues, mixes rock and blues, originals and covers – the same styles and approaches the Rolling Stones have been melding for decades.
    Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
Noun
  • The team investigated rock samples from half a million years of eruptions to look into Etna's origins.
    Refractor, Refractor, 27 July 2026
  • And in Yakima, Washington, cleanup was delayed over 13 years even though more than 1,350 water samples taken from the Hyatts’ neighbors around the Army’s Yakima Training Center have tested higher than the EPA limit.
    Austin Fast, USA Today, 26 July 2026
Noun
  • Laboratory demonstrations have already shown production pathways for lubricant precursors, munition components, active pharmaceutical ingredients, bioplastics, and single-cell proteins.
    Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 24 July 2026
  • In this study, published last month in Science, researchers found that as mice got close to the end of their pregnancies, placental levels of NAD+ and its precursors dropped off fast.
    Maggie Ryan, Flow Space, 20 July 2026
Noun
  • Mia Bieniemy, the wife of Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, was shot Sunday night at their home in Virginia, sources confirmed to The Star.
    Ben Wheeler, Kansas City Star, 28 July 2026
  • At scale, human annotation teams produce varying quality across data sources.
    Lucas Zhao, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026
Noun
  • By testing multiple specimens in parallel, the platform reduced overall testing time by more than 60 percent.
    Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 26 July 2026
  • Yet several scientists told KFF Health News that the specimens most likely were indeed for use in developing mpox diagnostic tests.
    CNN Money, CNN Money, 22 July 2026
Noun
  • Travelers who’d rather be outside should drive south on Snake River Road to Buffalo Eddy, where hundreds of petroglyphs etched into the basalt by Nez Perce ancestors thousands of years ago remain visible from the riverbank.
    Lauren Mowery, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026
  • In Tenet, warriors from the future punish the present because their world is ravaged by climate change caused by us, their ancestors.
    Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 29 July 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Prototypes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prototypes. Accessed 1 Aug. 2026.

More from Merriam-Webster on prototypes

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster