variety

variety

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of variety in English

English Online Dictionary. What means variety‎? What does variety mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle French varieté (variety) (modern French variété (variety; genre, type)) or directly from its etymon Latin varietās (difference; diversity, variety) + English -ty (suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives). Varietās is derived from varius (different, diverse, various; variegated) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (to abandon; to give out; to leave)) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being). The English word displaced the native Old English mislīcnes.

Sense 1.3.2 (“total number of distinct states of a system; logarithm to the base 2 of the total number of distinct states of a system”) was coined by the English psychiatrist William Ross Ashby (1903–1972) in his work An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: və-rīʹĭ-tē, IPA(key): /vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /vəˈɹaɪ.ə.ti/, /-ɾi/
  • Rhymes: -aɪɪti
  • Hyphenation: va‧ri‧e‧ty

Noun

variety (countable and uncountable, plural varieties)

  1. (countable)
    1. A deviation or difference.
    2. A specific variation of something.
      1. (biology, loosely) An animal or plant (or a group of such animals or plants) with characteristics causing it to differ from other animals or plants of the same species; a strain or cultivar.
        1. (botany, taxonomy) A rank in a taxonomic classification below species and (if present) subspecies, and above form; hence, an organism of that rank.
          Synonym: (abbreviation) var.
      2. (linguistics) A specific form of a language, neutral to whether that form is an accent, dialect, register, etc., and to its prestige level; an isolect or lect.
      3. (philately) A stamp, or set of stamps, which has one or more characteristics (such as colour, paper, etc.) differing from other stamps in the same issue, especially if such differences are intentionally introduced.
    3. A collection or number of different things.
      Synonyms: array, assortment
      Antonym: uniformity
      1. (algebra)
        1. In universal algebra: an equational class; the class of all algebraic structures of a given signature, satisfying a given set of identities.
          Synonyms: equational variety, variety of algebras
        2. (algebraic geometry) Ellipsis of algebraic variety (the set of solutions of a given system of polynomial equations over the real or complex numbers; any of certain generalisations of such a set that preserves the geometric intuition implicit in the original definition).
      2. (cybernetics) The total number of distinct states of a system; also, the logarithm to the base 2 of the total number of distinct states of a system. [from 1956.]
    4. (radio, television, theater) Ellipsis of variety performance. or variety show (a type of entertainment featuring a succession of short, unrelated performances by various artistes such as (depending on the medium) acrobats, comedians, dancers, magicians, singers, etc.).
  2. (uncountable)
    1. The quality of being varied; diversity.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nonuniformity
      Antonyms: sameness; see also Thesaurus:uniformity
    2. (radio, television, theater) The kind of entertainment given in variety performances or shows; also, the production of, or performance in, variety performances or shows.

Usage notes

Variety can be preceded with either a singular or plural form of the verb be: “there is a variety of options to choose from” and “there are a variety of options to choose from” are both considered grammatical. However, in the construction variety of [something], the word variety is generally followed by a plural noun and a plural form of be: “a variety of flavours were evident in the dish”.

Alternative forms

  • variete (obsolete)
  • varietie (obsolete)
  • variëty (rare)

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

  • (cybernetics: logarithm): information entropy

References

Further reading

  • algebraic variety on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • variety (botany) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • variety (cybernetics) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • variety (linguistics) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • variety (universal algebra) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • variety (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • “variety”, in The Century Dictionary [], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
  • “variety”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Bookmark
share
WebDictionary.net is an Free English Dictionary containing information about the meaning, synonyms, antonyms, definitions, translations, etymology and more.

Related Words

-

Browse the English Dictionary

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

License

This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.