variant
Americanadjective
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tending to change or alter; exhibiting variety or diversity; varying.
variant shades of color.
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not agreeing or conforming; differing, especially from something of the same general kind.
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not definitive, as a version of part of a text; different; alternative.
a variant reading.
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not universally accepted.
noun
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a person or thing that varies.
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a different spelling, pronunciation, or form of the same word.
“Vehemency” is a variant of “vehemence.”
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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.
adjective
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liable to or displaying variation
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differing from a standard or type
a variant spelling
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obsolete not constant; fickle
noun
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something that differs from a standard or type
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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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The team then examined genes involved in bone growth and compared the detected variants with modern medical data.
From Science Daily
Intelligence analysts scrutinise millions of data points -- from web addresses and malware variants to hacker code names -- that could provide leads in active investigations.
From Barron's
The doll and its many variants have been losing momentum since her latest 15 minutes in the spotlight following the 2023 hit movie “Barbie.”
From Los Angeles Times
Another, seen with newer variants Stratus and Nimbus that are still around, is a "razor-sharp" sore throat.
From BBC
They found that people with ancestry from the north-west of Ireland have the highest risk of developing haemochromatosis, with one in 54 people estimated to carry the genetic variant.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
