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 current variant, H3N2 subclade K, appears similar to last year’s strain and is included in this year’s vaccine, reducing concern about a major mismatch between the vaccine and the flu strain, Chin-Hong said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

“However, Public Health is awaiting subsequent variant testing, which can take several weeks.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

The U.S. government is expected to keep Falcon busy, with flights on the rocket and its larger variant potentially extending into the early 2030s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

"The fact this outbreak variant was able to spread to so many young people was due to the social environment, a place where lots of close social mixing takes place."

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

The decision bore the hallmarks of his overarching ambition: a top-down approach, beginning with the most complex and variant traits conceivable—intelligence, temperament, physical prowess, height.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Like hands, all amino acids exist as two mirrored variants, but only one of them is found in the proteins in the body's cells.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

The number of model variants will also be streamlined to boost profitability.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

The Torcal will sit at the more affordable end of Bentley’s product portfolio, similar to the Bentayga, a larger SUV named after another Spanish mountain range that comes in combustion-engine and hybrid variants.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

For instance, variants associated with extraversion in a young adult living in the Netherlands could also help predict extraversion in an older retired adult in the United States.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026

Simple combinatorial mathematics yielded twenty-seven unique combinations of these six gene variants.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Related Words

• modification
• variation