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Vagary vs Variation - What's the difference?

vagary | variation |

As nouns the difference between vagary and variation

is that vagary is an erratic, unpredictable occurrence or action while variation is variation.

vagary

English

Noun

(vagaries)
  • An erratic, unpredictable occurrence or action.
  • * 1871 , , At Last: A Christmas In The West Indies , ch. 8:
  • It now turns out that the Pitch Lake, like most other things, owes its appearance on the surface to no convulsion or vagary at all, but to a most slow, orderly, and respectable process of nature, by which buried vegetable matter, which would have become peat, and finally brown coal, in a temperate climate, becomes, under the hot tropic soil, asphalt and oil.
  • An impulsive or illogical desire; a caprice or whim.
  • * 1905 , , War of the Classes , Preface:
  • And then came the day when my socialism grew respectable,—still a vagary of youth, it was held, but romantically respectable.

    Derived terms

    * vagarity * vagarious

    See also

    * vaguery

    variation

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • The act of varying; a partial change in the form, position, state, or qualities of a thing
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
  • , title= Wild Plants to the Rescue , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • A related but distinct thing.
  • (nautical) The angular difference at the vessel between the direction of true north and magnetic north. Also called magnetic declination.
  • (board games) A line of play that differs from the original.
  • (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.
  • Derived terms

    * magnetic variation * theme and variations

    References

    * US FM 55-501 MARINE CREWMAN’S HANDBOOK; 1 December 1999 * * ----