Variant
//ˈvæɹi.ənt// adj, noun
adj, noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Something that is slightly different from a type or norm.
"All breeds of dog are variants of the species “Canis lupus familiaris”."
- 2 something a little different from others of the same type wordnet
- 3 A different sequence of a gene (locus).
"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."
- 4 a variable quantity that is random wordnet
- 5 A variable that can hold any of various unrelated data types.
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- 6 an event that departs from expectations wordnet
- 7 One of a set of words or other linguistic forms that conveys the same meaning or serves the same function.
"The word "kerosine" is a variant of “kerosene”."
- 8 (biology) a group of organisms within a species that differ in trivial ways from similar groups wordnet
Adjective
- 1 Showing variety, diverse.
- 2 Showing deviation or disagreement.
- 3 Variable. obsolete
- 4 Covariant and/or contravariant.
Adjective
- 1 differing from a norm or standard wordnet
- 2 exhibiting variation and change wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Justine made short work of her opponents in her own personal variant of chess."
Etymology
Recorded since c.1380, from Old French variant, from Latin variāns, the present active participle of variō (“to change”).
Related phrases
More for "variant"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.