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

"This suggests APOE4 accelerates a process that resembles normal aging, and could explain why people with the gene variant are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease earlier in life," Huang says.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026

This time, the Bundibugyo variant has infected 3,973 people, killing 1,801 of them in the first 10 weeks alone, giving it the potential to accelerate much faster from now on, epidemiologists warn.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Each F-35B, the variant of the stealth fighter jet with vertical takeoff and landing capability, costs about $109 million, according to maker Lockheed Martin.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

Whether the effect appeared beneficial or harmful depended on the specific AQP4 variant each person carried.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026

Somewhere in the vast flock, a variant was born with a grotesque beak capable of cracking seeds.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

The researchers identified particular variants that influenced the female-biased expression of two genes linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026

Olivia Rodrigo most recently released roughly 10 variants of her new album, “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,” in June.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

Washington’s manic quarantining of cruise-ship passengers, its restricting of foreign entry, probably did next to nothing to slow spread until a vaccine and the less-virulent omicron variants arrived, which took a year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Previous variants were more dangerous on the face of it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Imagine someone sneezing in a crowded elevator, releasing into the air ten variants of a rhinovirus, the kind of virus that causes the common cold.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Related Words

• modification
• variation