variant — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Showing variety, diverse.

2. Showing deviation or disagreement.

3. Variable.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

4. Covariant and/or contravariant.

Noun

1. Something that is slightly different from a type or norm.

   Examples

   All breeds of dog are variants of the species “Canis lupus familiaris”.

2. A different sequence of a gene (locus).

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Most train operators have reduced services with emergency timetables, as they struggle to cope with a rapid increase in staff absences due to the Omicron variant of COVID.

3. A variable that can hold any of various unrelated data types.

4. One of a set of words or other linguistic forms that conveys the same meaning or serves the same function.

   Examples

   The word "kerosine" is a variant of “kerosene”.

   The "Terms" number is the total number of words and lexical phrases, including sub-headwords and other nested lexical items, but exclusive of variants.

   More examples (1)

   Each member of this group of two or more forms is called a variant. [...] In this case ‘-in’ and ‘-ing’ are variants of the sociolinguistic variable -ing.

Adjective

1. differing from a norm or standard

   Examples

   a variant spelling

2. exhibiting variation and change

   Examples

   letters variant in size

Noun

1. an event that departs from expectations

   Synonyms

   discrepancyvariance

   Broader terms

   deviationdivergencedeparturedifference

2. (biology) a group of organisms within a species that differ in trivial ways from similar groups

   Synonyms

   formstrainvar.

   Broader terms

   taxonomic grouptaxonomic categorytaxon

   Examples

   a new strain of microorganisms

3. a variable quantity that is random

   Synonyms

   random variablevariatestochastic variablechance variable

   Broader terms

   variablevariable quantity

4. something a little different from others of the same type

   Synonyms

   versionvariationedition

   Broader terms

   type

   Examples

   an experimental version of the night fighter

   a variant of the same word

   More examples (2)

   an emery wheel is the modern variation of a grindstone

   the boy is a younger edition of his father