Noun

(varieties)

The quality of being varied; diversity.

A specific variation of something.

A number of different things.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-01, author=Katie L. Burke, volume=101, issue=1, page=64, magazine=(American Scientist)

, title= Ecological Dependency , passage=In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature , David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.” His quest leads him around the world to study a variety of suspect zoonoses—animal-hosted pathogens that infect humans.}}

A state of constant change.

(taxonomy) A rank in a taxonomic classification, below species and subspecies.

(cybernetics) The total number of distinct states of a system.

(cybernetics) Logarithm of the base 2 of the total number of distinct states of a system.

(linguistics) A term used for a specific form of a language, neutral to whether that form is a dialect, accent, register, etc. and to its prestige level.

The class of all algebraic structures of a given signature satisfying a given set of identities.

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.