variant

[ vair-ee-uhnt ]

adjective

1. tending to change or alter; exhibiting variety or diversity; varying:

   variant shades of color.

2. not agreeing or conforming; differing, especially from something of the same general kind.
3. not definitive, as a version of part of a text; different; alternative:

   a variant reading.

4. not universally accepted.

noun

1. a person or thing that varies.
2. a different spelling, pronunciation, or form of the same word:

   “Vehemency” is a variant of “vehemence.”

3. Microbiology, Pathology. a form of a virus, bacterium, or other microorganism that arises from a strain of the microorganism when a mutation changes a small part of the strain’s genetic code. Compare strain ²( def 5 ).

variant

/ ˈvɛərɪənt /

adjective

1. liable to or displaying variation
2. differing from a standard or type

   a variant spelling

3. obsolete.
   not constant; fickle

noun

1. something that differs from a standard or type
2. statistics another word for variate

Other Words From

• non·var·i·ant adjective noun
• un·var·i·ant adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of variant¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English variaunt(e), variant(e) “undergoing change, tending to change, changeable,” from Old French, from Latin variant-, stem of variāns, present participle of variāre “to mark or adorn with different colors”; various; -ant

Word History and Origins

Origin of variant¹

C14: via Old French from Latin variāns, from variāre to diversify, from varius various

Example Sentences

"We were particularly intrigued by the finding of genetic variants jointly tied to rhythm and language as being enriched for oligodendrocytes in the brain," Gordon said.

From Science Daily

Multicolored cats from such a cross are almost always female, suggesting the gene variant that makes fur orange or black is located on the X chromosome.

From Science Magazine

With some of the screened AAV variants, the researchers can label progenitor cells at a specific point in time during the circuit's development and follow them to see what neurons they become.

From Science Daily

The best-performing lipids are then used as starting points for generating another round of molecular variants, and so on, until only high-performing variants remain.

From Science Daily

To help counter these problems, researchers recently developed powerful technologies that genetically remove insecticide-resistant variant genes and replace them with genes that are susceptible to pesticides.

From Science Daily