variation

1. 1.

   an instance of change; the rate or magnitude of change

   Synonymsfluctuation

   Broaderchange

   Narrowervicissitudeallomerismdeviationsubstitutionbusiness cycledaily variationdiurnal variationtide
2. 2.

   an activity that varies from a norm or standard

   “any variation in his routine was immediately reported”

   Synonymsvariance

   Broaderactivity
3. 3.

   a repetition of a musical theme in which it is modified or embellished

   Broadertheme

   Narrowerinversionpartita
4. 4.

   something a little different from others of the same type

   “an experimental version of the night fighter”

   “a variant of the same word”

   “an emery wheel is the modern variation of a grindstone”

   “the boy is a younger edition of his father”

   Synonymsversionvariantedition

   Broadertype
5. 5.

   an artifact that deviates from a norm or standard

   “he patented a variation on the sandal”

   Broaderthing

   Narrowerbastard
6. 6.

   the angle (at a particular location) between magnetic north and true north

   Synonymsmagnetic declinationmagnetic variation

   Broaderangle
7. 7.

   the process of varying or being varied

   Broaderprocess

   Narrowercovariation
8. 8.

   (astronomy) any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite (especially a perturbation of the earth's moon)

   Broaderperturbation

   Narrowerlibration

   astronomy

9. 9.

   (biology) an organism that has characteristics resulting from chromosomal alteration

   Synonymsmutantmutationsport

   Broaderorganism

   Narrowerfreak

   biology

10. 10.

    (ballet) a solo dance or dance figure

    Synonymspas seul

    Broaderdancing

    ballet

11. 11.

    the act of changing or altering something slightly but noticeably from the norm or standard

    “who is responsible for these variations in taxation?”

    Broaderchange

Other forms of variation

plural

variations·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about variation

What does variation mean?

variation means "an instance of change; the rate or magnitude of change". That is the primary sense; the word has 11 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in variation?

variation has 4 syllables: var-i-a-tion. The stress falls on "a". In IPA it is /ˌvɛɹiˈeɪʃən/.

What is another word for variation?

Close synonyms include fluctuation, variance, version, variant, edition. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is variation a common word?

variation is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with variation?

133 words rhyme with variation. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.