variation Definition

variation
noun

1. The act or process of varying or changing.

Thesaurus: change, modification, deviation, aberration, alteration, elaboration, digression, volatility, lability; Antonym: uniformity, stability, monotony.
2. Something that varies from a standard.
3. The extent to which something varies from a standard.
4. A passage of music in which the main melody is repeated with some, usually only slight, changes.
5. biol.
Differences in characteristics, eg size or colouring, between individual members of the same plant or animal species, due to environmental differences, differences in genetic make-up, or (more often) both.
6. Differences in characteristics between parents and their offspring, due to mutations, or more often to the rearrangement of genetic material that occurs during sexual reproduction.
7. ballet.
A solo dance.

Derivative: variational
adj

Etymology: 14c: French, from Latin variatio, from variare to vary.