variance

[ vair-ee-uhns ]

noun

1. the state, quality, or fact of being variable, divergent, different, or anomalous.
2. an instance of varying; difference; discrepancy.
3. Also called mean square deviation. Statistics. the square of the standard deviation.
4. Physics, Chemistry. the number of degrees of freedom of a system.
5. Law.
   1. a difference or discrepancy, as between two statements or documents in law that should agree.
   2. a departure from the cause of action originally stated in the complaint.
6. an official permit to do something normally forbidden by regulations, especially by building in a way or for a purpose normally forbidden by a zoning law or a building code.
7. a disagreement, dispute, or quarrel.

variance

/ ˈvɛərɪəns /

noun

1. the act of varying or the quality, state, or degree of being divergent; discrepancy
2. an instance of diverging; dissension

   our variance on this matter should not affect our friendship

3. at variance
   1. often foll by with (of facts, etc) not in accord; conflicting
   2. (of persons) in a state of dissension
4. statistics a measure of dispersion obtained by taking the mean of the squared deviations of the observed values from their mean in a frequency distribution
5. a difference or discrepancy between two steps in a legal proceeding, esp between a statement in a pleading and the evidence given to support it
6. (in the US and Canada) a licence or authority issued by the board of variance to contravene the usual rule, esp to build contrary to the provision of a zoning code
7. chem the number of degrees of freedom of a system, used in the phase rule
8. accounting the difference between actual and standard costs of production

Other Words From

• non·vari·ance noun
• self-vari·ance noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of variance¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Latin variantia, from vari(āre) “to vary” ( vary ) + -antia -ance

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. at variance,
   1. (of things) in a state of difference or disagreement.
   2. (of persons) in a state of controversy or dissension:

      at variance with one's superiors.

Example Sentences

“The other story here is that there’s been so much variance in Texas election results in the past decade and it’s not clear what sort of election it’s going to be.”

From Salon

But Clark said students should be aware of the great variance among majors — the transfer admission rate for computer science is 5%, for instance, compared with 60%-plus for history, linguistics and philosophy.

From Los Angeles Times

But Leib said he and some other regents became increasingly concerned by the variance in campus approaches.

From Los Angeles Times

“If you had permanent charters, then you could create a revenue stream, either with new investors or different types of sponsorships that would subsidize that type of variance between ownership and the league,” Jordan said.

From New York Times

Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace each started in variance culture but also thought in terms of general principles.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• deviation
• difference of opinion
• discrepancy
• divergence
• fluctuation