variation

See also: Variation

English

Etymology

From Middle French variation, from Old French variacion, from Latin variātiō, from vary +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌvɛəɹɪˈeɪʃn̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌvɛəɹiˈeɪʃn̩/, /ˌvæɹiˈeɪʃn̩/, /ˌvɛɹiˈeɪʃn̩/

• Audio (US, Mary–marry–merry merger):

  (file)

• Audio (US, without the Mary–marry–merry merger):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: va‧ri‧a‧tion

Noun

variation (usually uncountable, plural variations)

1. The act of varying; a partial change in the form, position, state, or qualities of a thing.
   • 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

2. A related but distinct thing.

   When the process didn't work, we tried a variation.

   All of his soups are variations on a single recipe.

   • 2020 May 10, “Cultivation Experience of a Young Practitioner Born in the 90s”, in Minghui‎^[1]:

     Selfishness has different variations, but in the end it is all the same.

3. (nautical) The angular difference at the vessel between the direction of true north and magnetic north.

   Synonym: magnetic declination

4. (board games) A line of play that differs from the original.
5. (music) A technique where material is repeated with alterations to the melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, texture, counterpoint or orchestration; but with some invariant characteristic, e.g. a ground bass.
6. (genetics) The modification of a hereditary trait.
7. (astronomy) Deviation from the mean orbit of a heavenly body.
8. (linguistics) The situation where two or more linguistic forms appear in the same environment without a change in meaning, the choice of form being determined by factors of dialect, sociolect, register or simply the speaker's preference.

Derived terms

• antigenic variation
• copy number variation
• elegant variation
• equivalent variation
• free variation
• magnetic variation
• theme and variations
• variation compass
• variation of the field
• variation ratio
• variation selector

 

Related terms

• vary
• variant

Translations

the act or state of varying

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: промяна (bg) f (promjana), изменение (bg) n (izmenenie)
• Catalan: variació (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 變化／变化 (zh) (biànhuà), 變動／变动 (zh) (biàndòng)

• Czech: variace f
• Danish: variation c
• Dutch: afwisseling (nl) f, variatie (nl) f, verandering (nl) f
• Esperanto: diverseco, ŝanĝo
• Finnish: muuntelu (fi), vaihtelu (fi)
• French: variation (fr) f
• Galician: variación (gl) f
• Georgian: ვარიაცია (variacia), სახესხვაობა (saxesxvaoba)
• German: Veränderung (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: παράλλαγμα n (parállagma)

• Irish: athruithe, éagsúlacht f
• Italian: variazione (it)
• Japanese: 変動 (ja) (へんどう, hendō), 変化 (ja) (へんか, henka)
• Khmer: បំរែបំរួល (bɑmrɛɛbɑmruəl)
• Korean: 변화(變化) (ko) (byeonhwa)
• Latin: variatio
• Malay: kesenjangan (ms)
• Malayalam: വ്യതിയാനം (ml) (vyatiyānaṁ)
• Maori: tāupetanga
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: variasjon (no) m

  Nynorsk: variasjon m

• Polish: zmienność (pl) f
• Portuguese: variação (pt) f
• Romanian: variație (ro) f, variere f
• Russian: измене́ние (ru) n (izmenénije), варьи́рование (ru) n (varʹírovanije)
• Scottish Gaelic: mùthadh m, atharrachadh m, caochladh m
• Spanish: variación (es) f
• Swedish: variation (sv) c
• Tagalog: kaaligan
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: sự biến đổi, sự thay đổi

related but distinct thing

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: вариа́нт (bg) m (variánt), разнови́дност (bg) f (raznovídnost)
• Catalan: variant (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: variation c, variant c
• Dutch: variant (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: variaĵo
• Finnish: muunnos (fi)
• French: variante (fr) f
• Georgian: ვარიანტი (varianṭi), ვარიაცია (variacia), სახესხვაობა (saxesxvaoba)
• Italian: variante (it) f
• Khmer: បំរែបំរួល (bɑmrɛɛbɑmruəl)
• Malayalam: വ്യതിയാനം (ml) (vyatiyānaṁ)
• Portuguese: variação (pt) f, variante (pt) f
• Russian: разнови́дность (ru) f (raznovídnostʹ), вариа́нт (ru) m (variánt), вариа́ция (ru) f (variácija)
• Spanish: variación (es) f
• Swedish: variation (sv) c, variant (sv) c
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: biến thể (vi)

difference between true and magnetic (compass) north

• Bulgarian: отклонение (bg) n (otklonenie)
• Danish: afvigelse c
• Finnish: eranto (fi)
• French: déclinaison (fr) f
• Swedish: avvikelse (sv) c

(board games) a line of play that differs from the original

• Bulgarian: вариант (bg) (variant)
• Danish: variant c
• Dutch: variant (nl) m or f
• Finnish: muunnos (fi)
• French: variante (fr) f
• German: Variante (de) f
• Swedish: variant (sv) c

a musical technique based on an altered repetition of a theme

• Bulgarian: вариа́ция (bg) f (variácija)
• Catalan: variació (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 變奏曲／变奏曲 (zh) (biànzòuqǔ)

• Danish: variation c
• Dutch: variatie (nl) f
• Finnish: muuntelu (fi)
• French: variation (fr) f
• Georgian: ვარიაცია (variacia), სახესხვაობა (saxesxvaoba)
• German: Variation (de) f
• Greek: παραλλαγή (el) f (parallagí)
• Italian: variazione (it) f
• Japanese: 変奏曲 (へんそうきょく, hensōkyoku)
• Polish: wariacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: variação (pt) f
• Russian: вариа́ция (ru) f (variácija)
• Swedish: variation (sv) c
• Turkish: çeşitleme (tr)

appearance of two or more linguistic forms

• Irish: malartaíocht f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Korean: 변종 (ko) (byeonjong)

References

• US FM 55-501 MARINE CREWMAN’S HANDBOOK; 1 December 1999
• “variation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “variation”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin variātiōnem. See also véraison.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va.ʁja.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

variation f (plural variations)

1. variation

Derived terms

• boîte de vitesses à variation continue

Related terms

• varier

Descendants

• → Persian: واریاسیون (vâriyâsiyon)
• → Turkish: varyasyon

Further reading

• “variation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Swedish

Etymology

From French variation, attested from 1656.

Noun

variation c

1. variation

Declension

Declension of variation

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	variation	variations
	definite	variationen	variationens
plural	indefinite	variationer	variationers
	definite	variationerna	variationernas

Related terms

• variant
• variera