variability

American  

[vair-ee-uh-bil-i-tee] / ˌvɛər i əˈbɪl ɪ ti /

noun

1. the quality of being subject to change, especially frequent, random, or short-term change: Ensuring effective cooperation in home care is difficult because of the variability of schedules and tasks of both patients and caregivers.

   On a longer time scale, climate variability translates into shortages of food and water worldwide.

   Ensuring effective cooperation in home care is difficult because of the variability of schedules and tasks of both patients and caregivers.

2. the quality of including different kinds, or of being different from one case to the other; diversity.

   Healthcare administrators noted the variability among nursing education programs and called for standardization.

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Other Word Forms

• hypervariability noun
• nonvariability noun

Etymology

Origin of variability

variable ( def. ) + -ity ( def. )

Example Sentences

"We need to better appreciate how environmental conditions may be driving variability in cancer outcomes."

From Science Daily

Some more minor factors are also at play: rising U.S. production costs largely due to heightened immigration enforcement and curtailed labor supply, higher export logistics costs, and more climate-related yield variability.

From Barron's

Another complication is the variability of food products like cakes.

From BBC

The past few years have seen huge variability in sunshine amounts, with 2024 being the dullest year since 1998, followed by 2025, which will go down as the sunniest year on record.

From BBC

They added "natural variability means cold, snowy periods will still happen", but we can expect "fewer frost and snow days".

From BBC

Related Words

• anxiety
• fluctuation
• insecurity
• uncertainty
• volatility
• vulnerability
• weakness