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

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

• nonvariant adjective
• unvariant adjective

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”; various; -ant

Example Sentences

In the agreement, facilitated by the Iranian company Sahara Thunder, Iran sought to transfer the technology, materials, and know-how needed External link to produce a variant of its now-infamous Shahed-136 drone inside Russia.

From Barron's • Mar. 17, 2026

Rivian will first launch a $57,990 model, with plans to debut a $45,000 variant in late 2027.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026

In late 2027, Rivian plans to offer the R2 Standard variant, set to cost around $45,000.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 12, 2026

"In a way it almost sounded like a strange variant of Obama 2.0 in terms of economic reforms and so forth," said former ambassador DeLaurentis.

From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026

For a variant of gross-beaked finch to appear on a Galápagos island by natural selection, two seemingly contradictory facts had to be simultaneously true.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Related Words

• modification
• variation