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

Derived 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”; 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

This particular variant of the disease, Bundibugyo, is more difficult to detect than the more common Zaire variant.

From Slate • Jun. 9, 2026

To investigate, researchers recruited adults with and without a PAM variant known as p.S539W.

From Science Daily • Jun. 5, 2026

That means men with a BRCA2 gene variant and a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic, or prostate cancer.

From BBC • May 28, 2026

Kenya has not reported any Ebola infections so far, but health authorities are scrambling to curb a fast-growing outbreak of a rare Ebola variant in the DRC.

From Barron's • May 27, 2026

There were manuscripts there which he needed for the purpose of checking variant readings of the Talmudic passage on which he was working.

From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok

Related Words

• modification
• variation