variant

[ vair-ee-uhnt ]

adjective

1. tending to change or alter; exhibiting variety or diversity; varying:

   variant shades of color.

2. not agreeing or conforming; differing, especially from something of the same general kind.
3. not definitive, as a version of part of a text; different; alternative:

   a variant reading.

4. not universally accepted.

noun

1. a person or thing that varies.
2. a different spelling, pronunciation, or form of the same word:

   “Vehemency” is a variant of “vehemence.”

3. Microbiology, Pathology. a form of a virus, bacterium, or other microorganism that arises from a strain of the microorganism when a mutation changes a small part of the strain’s genetic code. Compare strain ²( def 5 ).

variant

/ ˈvɛərɪənt /

adjective

1. liable to or displaying variation
2. differing from a standard or type

   a variant spelling

3. obsolete.
   not constant; fickle

noun

1. something that differs from a standard or type
2. See variate
   statistics another word for variate

Other Words From

• non·var·i·ant adjective noun
• un·var·i·ant adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of variant¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English variaunt(e), variant(e) “undergoing change, tending to change, changeable,” from Old French, from Latin variant-, stem of variāns, present participle of variāre “to mark or adorn with different colors”; various; -ant

Word History and Origins

Origin of variant¹

C14: via Old French from Latin variāns, from variāre to diversify, from varius various

Example Sentences

There we were to watch a game of buzkashi, a much more violent variant of polo played by Uzbeks and other Afghans.

From The Daily Beast

All of these will end with some variant of the following: Ms. Pembreteaux laughed, then shrugged.

From The Daily Beast

Many of the gender-variant male types were stigmatized; being regarded as women was hardly an elevation in social status.

From The Daily Beast

Instead, Chris indulged in the MSNBC variant of epistemic closure.

From The Daily Beast

Now she is back with a new variant today, but this one actually makes more sense.

From The Daily Beast

On the other hand, no continental variant appears to contain the sea-maiden episodes.

From Project Gutenberg

I do not think that Lancelot was ab origine the hero of a variant of this popular and widely-spread folk-tale.

From Project Gutenberg

Minor printer's errors have been corrected, but variant and irregular spellings are retained.

From Project Gutenberg

He indicated one of the variant-tapes being slowly reversed across the relays.

From Project Gutenberg

Where several variant spellings were used, the most prevalent version was use to standardize them.

From Project Gutenberg