variation
/ˌvɛəɹiˈeɪʃn̩/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.08 in modern English
Meaning
noun
The act of varying; a partial change in the form, position, state, or qualities of a thing.
Uncountable
noun
The angular difference at the vessel between the direction of true north and magnetic north.
Uncountable
noun
A technique where material is repeated with alterations to the melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, texture, counterpoint or orchestration; but with some invariant characteristic, e.g. a ground bass.
Uncountable
noun
The situation where two or more linguistic forms appear in the same environment without a change in meaning, the choice of form being determined by factors of dialect, sociolect, register or simply the speaker's preference.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better."
- "When the process didn't work, we tried a variation."
- "All of his soups are variations on a single recipe."
- "Selfishness has different variations, but in the end it is all the same."
Etymology
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌvɛəɹiˈeɪʃn̩/
- British English: /ˌvɛəɹɪˈeɪʃn̩/