variety

Plural: varieties

Noun

• The quality or state of being different or diverse.
• a collection containing a variety of sorts of things
  • "he had a variety of disorders"
• noticeable heterogeneity
  • "the range and variety of his work is amazing"
• (biology) a taxonomic category consisting of members of a species that differ from others of the same species in minor but heritable characteristics
• a show consisting of a series of short unrelated performances
• a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality
• a difference that is usually pleasant
  • "he goes to France for variety"
• A deviation or difference.
• A specific variation of something.
• A specific variation of something.
• An animal or plant (or a group of such animals or plants) with characteristics causing it to differ from other animals or plants of the same species; a strain or cultivar.
• A specific variation of something.
• An animal or plant (or a group of such animals or plants) with characteristics causing it to differ from other animals or plants of the same species; a strain or cultivar.
• A rank in a taxonomic classification below species and (if present) subspecies, and above form; hence, an organism of that rank.
• A specific variation of something.
• A specific form of a language, neutral to whether that form is an accent, dialect, register, etc., and to its prestige level; an isolect or lect.
• A specific variation of something.
• A stamp, or set of stamps, which has one or more characteristics (such as colour, paper, etc.) differing from other stamps in the same issue, especially if such differences are intentionally introduced.
• A collection or number of different things.
• A collection or number of different things.
• In universal algebra: an equational class; the class of all algebraic structures of a given signature, satisfying a given set of identities.
• A collection or number of different things.
• Ellipsis of algebraic variety (“the set of solutions of a given system of polynomial equations over the real or complex numbers; any of certain generalisations of such a set that preserves the geometric intuition implicit in the original definition”).
• A collection or number of different things.
• The total number of distinct states of a system; also, the logarithm to the base 2 of the total number of distinct states of a system.
• Ellipsis of variety performance or variety show (“a type of entertainment featuring a succession of short, unrelated performances by various artistes such as (depending on the medium) acrobats, comedians, dancers, magicians, singers, etc.”).
• The quality of being varied; diversity.
• The kind of entertainment given in variety performances or shows; also, the production of, or performance in, variety performances or shows.

Examples

• Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum is a variety of Capsicum annuum commonly known as chiltepin or Indian pepper.
• The various tile distributions offered a delightful VARIETY of word possibilities.
• Variety is the spice of life.

Synonyms

assortment, change, diverseness, diversity, form, kind, miscellanea, miscellany, mixed bag, mixture, motley, multifariousness, potpourri, salmagundi, smorgasbord, sort, variety show, array, disuniformity, equational variety, heterogeneity, irregularity, multiformity, nonconformity, nonhomogeneity, nonregularity, nonuniformity, spread, unconformity, var., variety, variety of algebras

Antonyms

nonuniformity, sameness, uniformity

Related Words

information entropy, variant, variation, varied, variedly, variedness, variegate, variegated, variegation, variegator, varier, various, vary