PERMUTATION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Permutation

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/pˌərmjutˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Permutation n.

The act of permuting; exchange of the thing for another; mutual transference; interchange. "The violent convulsions and permutations that have been made in property."

(Math.)

(a)

The arrangement of any determinate number of things, as units, objects, letters, etc., in all possible orders, one after the other; called also alternation. Cf. Combination, n., 4.

(b)

Any one of such possible arrangements.

(Law) Barter; exchange.

Permutation lock, a lock in which the parts can be transposed or shifted, so as to require different arrangements of the tumblers on different occasions of unlocking.

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Etymology of 'Permutation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Permutation" Quotes from Famous Books

... and these virtues are there, however eclipsed. They appear and reappear and continue to attract; but the regard changes, quits the sign and attaches to the substance. This repairs the wounded affection. Meantime, as life wears on, it proves a game of permutation and combination of all possible positions of the parties, to employ all the resources of each, and acquaint each with the weakness of the other.... At last they discover that all which at first drew them together—those once sacred features, that magical play of charms—was deciduous, ...

— Emerson and Other Essays • John Jay Chapman

... is holden fable; Virtue hath now no domination; Pity exil'd, no wight is merciable; Through covetise is blent* discretion; *blinded The worlde hath made permutation From right to wrong, from truth to fickleness, That all is lost for lack ...

— The Canterbury Tales and Other Poems • Geoffrey Chaucer