Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To undergo or show change.
- intransitive verb To deviate from a standard or expectation.
- intransitive verb To have a range of different qualities or amounts.
- intransitive verb To make or cause changes in; modify or alter.
- intransitive verb To give variety to; make diverse.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Alteration; change; variation.
- To change; alter: as, to
vary the conditions of an experiment. - To diversify: modify; relieve from uniformity or monotony.
- To change to something else; transmute.
- To make of different kinds; make diverse or different one from another.
- To express variously; diversify in terms or forms of expression.
- In music, to embellish or alter (a melody or theme) without really changing its identity. See
variation , 9. - To alter or be altered in any manner; suffer a partial change; appear in different or various forms; be modified; be changeable.
- To differ or be different; be unlike or diverse: as, the laws of different countries vary.
- To become unlike one's self; undergo variation, as in purpose or opinion.
- To deviate; depart; swerve.
- To alter or change in succession; foliow alternately; alternate.
- To disagree; be at variance.
- To turn out otherwise.
- In math, analysis, to be subject to continual increase or decrease: as, a quantity conceived to vary, or have different values in the same equation.
- In biology, to be varied or subject to variation, as by natural or artificial selection; exhibit variation. See
variability , 2, variation, 8, and variety, 6.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete Alteration; change.
- transitive verb To change the aspect of; to alter in form, appearance, substance, position, or the like; to make different by a partial change; to modify
- transitive verb To change to something else; to transmute; to exchange; to alternate.
- transitive verb To make of different kinds; to make different from one another; to diversify; to variegate.
- transitive verb (Mus.) To embellish; to change fancifully; to present under new aspects, as of form, key, measure, etc. See
Variation , 4. - intransitive verb To alter, or be altered, in any manner; to suffer a partial change; to become different; to be modified.
- intransitive verb To differ, or be different; to be unlike or diverse.
- intransitive verb To alter or change in succession; to alternate.
- intransitive verb To deviate; to depart; to swerve; -- followed by from.
- intransitive verb To disagree; to be at variance or in dissension.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
change withtime or a similarparameter . - verb transitive To institute a
change in, from acurrent state; tomodify . - verb intransitive Not to
remain constant : to change with time or a similar parameter. - verb intransitive To display
differences . - verb intransitive To be or act
different from theusual . - noun obsolete Alteration; change.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb be subject to change in accordance with a variable
- verb make something more diverse and varied
- verb become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence
- verb be at variance with; be out of line with
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Since then, references to emergingmarkets have become ubiquitous in the media, foreign policy and tradedebates, investment fund prospectuses and multinationals 'annualreports, but definitions of the term vary widely.
How To Define Emerging Markets Krishna G. Palepu 2010
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Does the label vary from the prescription or look different than what you expect?
What’s in your medicine bottle? Your prescription may not be what the doctor ordered! 2008
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Does the label vary from the prescription or look different than what you expect?
What’s in your medicine bottle? Your prescription may not be what the doctor ordered! 2008
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The steps and fees to legally change your name vary by state.
The Seattle Times 2011
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It is just one instance of the general truth that standards for the application of a term vary within a wide but non-arbitrary range as determined by various features of the context.
Skepticism Klein, Peter 2005
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Extra virgin is an indication of quality - it means that an olive oil is particularly sweet with less than 0.8 per cent acidity - but why do bottles bearing this phrase on the label vary so much in price?
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baptized for the dead , but interpretations of the phrase vary widely, and it's unclear whether the practice was ever commonplace.
Slate Articles Forrest Wickman 2012
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Moreover, as they are written for "average patients" and cannot encompass the huge variation in how patients present, there may be good reason to vary from a guideline's recommendation for a patient.
Joanne Doroshow: Peter Orszag's Truly Bad Medical Malpractice Prescription Joanne Doroshow 2010
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Themes can vary from the classic favorites like the beach, stars and sky and green living to something unorthodox like sports themes and even movie sets.
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They vary from the size of a saucer, to the size of a salad plate, some of them are even as big as a dinner plate.
Cuernavaca 2009
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