variation

American  

[vair-ee-ey-shuhn] / ˌvɛər iˈeɪ ʃən /

noun

• variations
  plural

1. the act, process, or accident of varying in condition, character, or degree.

   Prices are subject to variation.

   Synonyms:

   difference, divergence, deviation, modification, alteration, mutation

2. an instance of this.

   There is a variation in the quality of fabrics in this shipment.

3. amount, rate, extent, or degree of change.

   a temperature variation of 40° in a particular climate.

4. a different form of something; variant.

5. Music.

   1. the transformation of a melody or theme with changes or elaborations in harmony, rhythm, and melody.

   2. a varied form of a melody or theme, especially one of a series of such forms developing the capacities of the subject.

6. Ballet. a solo dance, especially one forming a section of a pas de deux.

7. Astronomy. any deviation from the mean orbit of a heavenly body, especially of a planetary or satellite orbit.

8. Also called magnetic declination,.  Also called magnetic variation.  Navigation. the angle between the geographic and the magnetic meridian at a given point, expressed in plus degrees east or minus degrees west of true north.

9. Biology. a difference or deviation in structure or character from others of the same species or group.

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variation British  

/ ˌvɛərɪˈeɪʃən /

noun

1. the act, process, condition, or result of changing or varying; diversity

2. an instance of varying or the amount, rate, or degree of such change

3. something that differs from a standard or convention

4. music

   1. a repetition of a musical theme in which the rhythm, harmony, or melody is altered or embellished

   2. ( as modifier )

      variation form

5. biology

   1. a marked deviation from the typical form or function

   2. a characteristic or an organism showing this deviation

6. astronomy any change in or deviation from the mean motion or orbit of a planet, satellite, etc, esp a perturbation of the moon

7. another word for magnetic declination

8. ballet a solo dance

9. linguistics any form of morphophonemic change, such as one involved in inflection, conjugation, or vowel mutation

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• intervariation
  noun
• nonvariation
  noun
• overvariation
  noun
• prevariation
  noun
• self-variation
  noun
• variational
  adjective
• variative
  adjective
• variationally
  adverb
• variatively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• variations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of variation

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Latin variātiōn-, stem of variātiō; equivalent to variate + -ion; replacing Middle English variacioun, from Anglo-French, from Latin, as above

Explanation

Variation means a deviation from the norm, like the variation of colors in nature. A variation from an accepted standard can be very important. For example, a variation in a heartbeat pattern can tell a doctor that a heart attack might be imminent. The variation in weather temperatures from what is expected indicates that our climate is changing due to global warming. But not all variation is a bad thing. For example, even within breeds, there is a wide variation in the coloration of dogs, a trait that makes each puppy uniquely lovable.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

variation variations

And that “average” return figure masks a lot of variation.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

They were quickly interpreted to be a variation of a rallying cry adopted by some people angry at the health-insurance industry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Short of driving cross-country or moving to the Midwest, there is little the average Californian can do to avoid this, but the vast variation in prices holds hints about other ways to save.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

"The question from the model's perspective is, 'What is the sequence of evolutionary changes that needs to happen to explain the variation we can see today?'"

From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026

In the early 1850s, Mendel had tried a more audacious variation of this experiment, starting with white and gray field mice.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

“I mostly just told Claude variations of keep going and believe in yourself,” Sumner says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

Temperature variations and anomalies in countries close to the equator are typically smaller than in temperate climates.

From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026

Standards, such as the number of children a teacher can supervise, would soon be under local control, leading to variations across the country, which Head Start advocates worry could diminish the quality of the program.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Subtle variations in the prompt can produce different answers.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

With this simple calibration, the glasses should now be able to know my brain’s preferences and variations enough to sync up everything in Warcross to me.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

Related Words

• abnormality
• alteration
• change
• deviation
• discrepancy
• disparity
• divergence
• diversity
• fluctuation
• innovation
• modification
• mutation
• shift
• variety