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Variation   /vˌɛriˈeɪʃən/   Listen
noun
Variation  n.  
1.
The act of varying; a partial change in the form, position, state, or qualities of a thing; modification; alteration; mutation; diversity; deviation; as, a variation of color in different lights; a variation in size; variation of language. "The essences of things are conceived not capable of any such variation."
2.
Extent to which a thing varies; amount of departure from a position or state; amount or rate of change.
3.
(Gram.) Change of termination of words, as in declension, conjugation, derivation, etc.
4.
(Mus.) Repetition of a theme or melody with fanciful embellishments or modifications, in time, tune, or harmony, or sometimes change of key; the presentation of a musical thought in new and varied aspects, yet so that the essential features of the original shall still preserve their identity.
5.
(Alg.) One of the different arrangements which can be made of any number of quantities taking a certain number of them together.
Annual variation (Astron.), the yearly change in the right ascension or declination of a star, produced by the combined effects of the precession of the equinoxes and the proper motion of the star.
Calculus of variations. See under Calculus.
Variation compass. See under Compass.
Variation of the moon (Astron.), an inequality of the moon's motion, depending on the angular distance of the moon from the sun. It is greater at the octants, and zero at the quadratures.
Variation of the needle (Geog. & Naut.), the angle included between the true and magnetic meridians of a place; the deviation of the direction of a magnetic needle from the true north and south line; called also declination of the needle.
Synonyms: Change; vicissitude; variety; deviation.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Variation" Quotes from Famous Books



... me to believe that fortuitous variation—variation all around the circle—could have resulted in the evolution of man. There must have been a predetermined tendency to variation in certain directions. To introduce chance into the world ...
— Time and Change • John Burroughs

... before him. It was merely a variation of those he had already seen. In the brain of one of the Terrestrials he saw the landing of the Jovian ship and the sudden outrush of the Sons of God, armed only with the forty-pound axes they used at close ...
— Giants on the Earth • Sterner St. Paul Meek

... the years so that many words now connote more than they did originally. This is true of the word monotonous. From "having but one tone," it has come to mean more broadly, "lack of variation." ...
— The Art of Public Speaking • Dale Carnagey (AKA Dale Carnegie) and J. Berg Esenwein

... circumference of the wheel and the surface of the rail, and the third being the resistance of gravity. The amount of friction and gravity he could accurately ascertain; but the rolling resistance was a matter of greater difficulty, being subject to much variation. He satisfied himself, however, that it was so great when the surface presented to the wheel was of a rough character, that the idea of working steam carriages economically on common roads was dismissed by him as entirely impracticable. Taking it as 10 lbs to a ...
— Lives of the Engineers - The Locomotive. George and Robert Stephenson • Samuel Smiles

... Essington, the year at Cape York is divided into two seasons,* the dry and the rainy. From personal observation and other sources of information, it would appear that the limits and duration of these admit of so much variation that it is impossible to determine with certainty, even within a month, when one ceases and the other begins. It would appear however that the dry season, characterised by the prevalence of the south-east trade, usually terminates in November, the change having ...
— Narrative Of The Voyage Of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By The Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During The Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries And Surveys In New Guinea, The Louisiade • John MacGillivray


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