Link Centre Dictionary

variant

va·riant

UK/ˈvɛəɹi.ənt/ US/ˈvæɹi.ənt/ uncommon obsolete
noun (4) adjective (1)

noun

1.

an event that departs from expectations

Synonyms
2.

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

  • “a new strain of microorganisms”
Synonyms
3.
4.

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”
Synonyms

adjective

1.

differing from a norm or standard

  • “a variant spelling”
Similar

Origin

From Old French variant, from Latin variāns, the present active participle of variō (“to change”). First attested in c. 1380.

Phrases

  • Alpha variant
  • Beta variant
  • copy-number variant
  • delta variant
  • Epsilon variant
  • Eta variant
  • Gamma variant

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.