variation (n.)

  1. an instance of change; the rate or magnitude of change

    [ Syn: fluctuation ]

  2. (ballet) a solo dance or dance figure

    [ Syn: pas seul ]

  3. the act of changing or altering something slightly but noticeably from the norm or standard; who is responsible for these variations in taxation?'

  4. an activity that varies from a norm or standard; any variation in his routine was immediately reported

    [ Syn: variance ]

  5. a repetition of a musical theme in which it is modified or embellished

  6. something a little different from others of the same type; an experimental version of the night fighter; a variant of the same word; an emery wheel is the modern variation of a grindstone; the boy is a younger edition of his father

    [ Syn: version , variant , edition ]

  7. an artifact that deviates from a norm or standard; he patented a variation on the sandal'

  8. the angle (at a particular location) between magnetic north and true north

    [ Syn: magnetic declination , magnetic variation ]

  9. the process of varying or being varied

  10. (astronomy) any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite (especially a perturbation of the earth's moon)

  11. (biology) an organism that has characteristics resulting from chromosomal alteration

    [ Syn: mutant , mutation , sport ]

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.