variant

American  

[vair-ee-uhnt] / ˈvɛər i ənt /

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.

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noun

• variants
  plural

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.

variant British  

/ ˈvɛərɪənt /

adjective

1. liable to or displaying variation

2. differing from a standard or type

   a variant spelling

3. obsolete not constant; fickle

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noun

1. something that differs from a standard or type

2. statistics another word for variate

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonvariant
  adjective
• unvariant
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• variants
  plural

Etymology

Origin of variant

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”; cf. various; see -ant

Explanation

A variant is another version of something. You could say chimps and apes and gorillas are variants in the primate family. Words often have variants, spellings that vary from region to region or country to country. The British colour and the American color are variants. When a movie or TV show is remade or casts a new actor — like with the string of James Bonds — you could call those movies variants. Where there are variants, there is variety — things aren't all the same.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

variant variants

The Bundibugyo variant replicates more slowly than other lethal strains, meaning it can spread farther and kill more people before burning out.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Whether the effect appeared beneficial or harmful depended on the specific AQP4 variant each person carried.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026

Lapping firmly believes over the next decade there is more upside to Chinese consumption than to the American variant as it’s coming off a lower base.”

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026

Currently, the longest commercial flight service in the world is Singapore Airline's route between Singapore and New York, which covers 15,350 kilometres and lasts more than 18 hours using another variant of the A350.

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

So whichever dictionary you choose, read the user manual in the front to see how yours handles multiple or variant pronunciations.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

Over the years, it’s become customary for major musicians to release several vinyl variants to help promote their latest album.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

Washington’s manic quarantining of cruise-ship passengers, its restricting of foreign entry, probably did next to nothing to slow spread until a vaccine and the less-virulent omicron variants arrived, which took a year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Olivia Rodrigo most recently released roughly 10 variants of her new album, “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,” in June.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

"Our study shows that individuals carrying certain AQP4 variants showed faster grey matter loss when they reported shorter sleep," researcher Dr. Ayeisha Milligan Armstrong said.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026

They had been deliberately created by humans—by the selective breeding of variants from the same ancestral cow.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Related Words

• modification
• variation