variation

American  

[vair-ee-ey-shuhn] / ˌvɛər iˈeɪ ʃən /

noun

• variations
  plural

1. the act, process, or accident of varying in condition, character, or degree.

   Prices are subject to variation.

   Synonyms:

   difference, divergence, deviation, modification, alteration, mutation

2. an instance of this.

   There is a variation in the quality of fabrics in this shipment.

3. amount, rate, extent, or degree of change.

   a temperature variation of 40° in a particular climate.

4. a different form of something; variant.

5. Music.

   1. the transformation of a melody or theme with changes or elaborations in harmony, rhythm, and melody.

   2. a varied form of a melody or theme, especially one of a series of such forms developing the capacities of the subject.

6. Ballet. a solo dance, especially one forming a section of a pas de deux.

7. Astronomy. any deviation from the mean orbit of a heavenly body, especially of a planetary or satellite orbit.

8. Also called magnetic declination,.  Also called magnetic variation.  Navigation. the angle between the geographic and the magnetic meridian at a given point, expressed in plus degrees east or minus degrees west of true north.

9. Biology. a difference or deviation in structure or character from others of the same species or group.

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variation British  

/ ˌvɛərɪˈeɪʃən /

noun

1. the act, process, condition, or result of changing or varying; diversity

2. an instance of varying or the amount, rate, or degree of such change

3. something that differs from a standard or convention

4. music

   1. a repetition of a musical theme in which the rhythm, harmony, or melody is altered or embellished

   2. ( as modifier )

      variation form

5. biology

   1. a marked deviation from the typical form or function

   2. a characteristic or an organism showing this deviation

6. astronomy any change in or deviation from the mean motion or orbit of a planet, satellite, etc, esp a perturbation of the moon

7. another word for magnetic declination

8. ballet a solo dance

9. linguistics any form of morphophonemic change, such as one involved in inflection, conjugation, or vowel mutation

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• intervariation
  noun
• nonvariation
  noun
• overvariation
  noun
• prevariation
  noun
• self-variation
  noun
• variational
  adjective
• variative
  adjective
• variationally
  adverb
• variatively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• variations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of variation

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Latin variātiōn-, stem of variātiō; equivalent to variate + -ion; replacing Middle English variacioun, from Anglo-French, from Latin, as above

Explanation

Variation means a deviation from the norm, like the variation of colors in nature. A variation from an accepted standard can be very important. For example, a variation in a heartbeat pattern can tell a doctor that a heart attack might be imminent. The variation in weather temperatures from what is expected indicates that our climate is changing due to global warming. But not all variation is a bad thing. For example, even within breeds, there is a wide variation in the coloration of dogs, a trait that makes each puppy uniquely lovable.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

variation variations

And that “average” return figure masks a lot of variation.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

"NHS England is leading a programme of work which is already helping to increase the number of transplants, reduce variation, identify suitable patients earlier and improve access," it added.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

The variation in standards and schedules across different index providers means you could end up with a patchwork.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Short of driving cross-country or moving to the Midwest, there is little the average Californian can do to avoid this, but the vast variation in prices holds hints about other ways to save.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

They invented endless variations: but nobody who performed a variation had not also performed the basic experiment.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

AT&T’s own OTel model, which is an open model customized with telecom-specific data, was tested in 32 different variations of model type and parameter size, Markus said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Temperature variations and anomalies in countries close to the equator are typically smaller than in temperate climates.

From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026

“Just different formations ... variations of the same route ... I mean, shoot, that just shows how good a coach Coach Mike is — got us in different positions to be successful.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026

These small variations influence how the light behaves at the quantum level.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026

There was something habitual about it, as if they had had different variations of this conversation so many times that they knew just when to laugh.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Related Words

• abnormality
• alteration
• change
• deviation
• discrepancy
• disparity
• divergence
• diversity
• fluctuation
• innovation
• modification
• mutation
• shift
• variety