Link Centre Dictionary

variety

va·riety

UK/vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/ US/vəˈɹaɪ.ə.ti/ fairly common

noun

1.

a collection containing a variety of sorts of things

  • “a great assortment of cars was on display”
  • “he had a variety of disorders”
  • “a veritable smorgasbord of religions”
Synonyms
2.

noticeable heterogeneity

  • “a diversity of possibilities”
  • “the range and variety of his work is amazing”
Synonyms
3.

(biology) a taxonomic category consisting of members of a species that differe from others of the same species in minor but heritable characteristics

  • “varieties are frequently recognized in botany”
4.

a show consisting of a series of short unrelated performances

Synonyms
5.

a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality

  • “sculpture is a form of art”
  • “what kinds of desserts are there?”
Synonyms
6.

a difference that is usually pleasant

  • “he goes to France for variety”
  • “it is a refreshing change to meet a woman mechanic”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle French varieté (“variety”) (modern French variété (“variety; genre, type”)) or directly from its etymon Latin varietās (“difference; diversity, variety”) + English -ty (suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives); by surface analysis, various + -ety.

Phrases

  • Abelian variety
  • affine variety
  • algebraic variety
  • common or garden variety
  • equational variety
  • garden variety
  • grape variety
  • Kummer variety

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower 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.