variety

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: va=ri=e=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

variety, n. [L. varietas: cf. F. variété. See Various.].

•  The quality or state of being various; intermixture or succession of different things; diversity; multifariousness.  [1913 Webster]

  "Variety is nothing else but a continued novelty."  [1913 Webster]

  "The variety of colors depends upon the composition of light."  [1913 Webster]

  "For earth hath this variety from heaven."  [1913 Webster]

  "There is a variety in the tempers of good men."  [1913 Webster]
•  That which is various.  [1913 Webster]

  " Varieties usually differ from species in that any two, however unlike, will generally propagate indefinitely (unless they are in their nature unfertile, as some varieties of rose and other cultivated plants); in being a result of climate, food, or other extrinsic conditions or influences, but generally by a sudden, rather than a gradual, development; and in tending in many cases to lose their distinctive peculiarities when the individuals are left to a state of nature, and especially if restored to the conditions that are natural to typical individuals of the species. Many varieties of domesticated animals and of cultivated plants have been directly produced by man."  [1913 Webster]

  " These may be viewed as variations from the typical species in its most perfect and purest form, or, as is more commonly the case, all the forms, including the latter, may rank as Varieties. Thus, the sapphire is a blue variety, and the ruby a red variety, of corundum; again, calcite has many Varieties differing in form and structure, as Iceland spar, dogtooth spar, satin spar, and also others characterized by the presence of small quantities of magnesia, iron, manganese, etc. Still again, there are varieties of granite differing in structure, as graphic granite, porphyritic granite, and other varieties differing in composition, as albitic granite, hornblendic, or syenitic, granite, etc."  [1913 Webster]

  "He . . . wants more time to do that variety of good which his soul thirsts after."  [1913 Webster]
•  Such entertainment as in given in variety shows; the production of, or performance in, variety shows.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

  "All sorts are here that all the earth yields!
  Variety without end."  [1913 Webster]

  "But see in all corporeal nature's scene,
  What changes, what diversities, have been!"  [1913 Webster]

Geographical variety (Biol.), a variety of any species which is coincident with a geographical region, and is usually dependent upon, or caused by, peculiarities of climate. -- Variety hybrid (Biol.), a cross between two individuals of different varieties of the same species; a mongrel.

Syn. -- Diversity; difference; kind.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

variety, n. (pl. -ies)
1 diversity; absence of uniformity; many-sidedness; the condition of being various (not enough variety in our lives).
2 a quantity or collection of different things (for a variety of reasons).
3 a a class of things different in some common qualities from the rest of a larger class to which they belong. b a specimen or member of such a class.
4 (foll. by of) a different form of a thing, quality, etc.
5 Biol. a a subspecies. b a cultivar. c an individual or group usually fertile within the species to which it belongs but differing from the species type in some qualities capable of perpetuation.
6 a mixed sequence of dances, songs, comedy acts, etc. (usu. attrib.: a variety show).

Idiom

variety store US a shop selling many kinds of small items.

Etymology

F vari{eacute}t{eacute} or L varietas (as VARIOUS)

THESAURUS

variety

Broadway, Proteus, a certain number, a few, about-face, accommodation, adaptation, adjustment, affiliation, allotropism, allotropy, alteration, amelioration, apostasy, assortment, betterment, biotype, blood, body, branch, brand, break, breed, burlesque, capriciousness, cast, category, change, change of heart, changeability, changeableness, character, choice, choppiness, church, circus, clan, class, classification, collectanea, collection, color, communion, community, conglomerate, conglomeration, constructive change, continuity, contrariety, contrast, conversion, dappleness, defection, degeneration, degenerative change, denomination, departure, description, designation, desultoriness, deterioration, deviability, deviation, difference, differentiation, disaccord, disaccordance, disagreement, disconformity, discongruity, discontinuity, discordance, discrepancy, discreteness, disorder, disparity, dissent, dissimilarity, dissonance, distinction, distinctness, divarication, divergence, divergency, diversification, diversion, diversity, division, drama, eccentricity, entertainment industry, erraticism, faction, family, far cry, feather, fellowship, fickleness, fitting, flightiness, flip-flop, form, freakishness, genotype, genre, genus, grade, gradual change, grain, group, her infinite variety, heterogeneity, heteromorphism, hodgepodge, ilk, improvement, impulsiveness, inaccordance, incompatibility, incongruity, inconsistency, inconsonance, inconstancy, inequality, inharmoniousness, inharmony, instability, irreconcilability, irregularity, jerkiness, kidney, kin, kind, kingdom, label, legit, legitimate stage, line, lot, make, manifoldness, manner, mark, medley, melioration, mercuriality, miscellanea, miscellany, mitigation, mix, mixture, modification, modulation, mold, moodiness, more, motleyness, multifariousness, multiformity, multiplicity, mutability, nature, nonconformism, nonconformity, nonstandardization, nonuniformity, nonuniqueness, number, numerousness, oddments, odds, odds and ends, off Broadway, off-off-Broadway, offshoot, omnifariousness, omniformity, omnium-gatherum, opposition, order, organization, otherness, overthrow, party, persuasion, phylum, playland, pluralism, plurality, pluralness, polymorphism, qualification, race, radical change, raggedness, range, rank, re-creation, realignment, redesign, reform, reformation, religious order, remaking, renewal, repertory drama, reshaping, restlessness, restructuring, reversal, revival, revivification, revolution, schism, school, sect, sectarism, section, segment, selection, separateness, series, several, shape, shapeshifter, shift, shiftiness, show biz, show business, society, sort, species, stage world, stagedom, stageland, stamp, stock, strain, strawhat, strawhat circuit, stripe, style, subclass, subfamily, subgenus, subkingdom, suborder, subspecies, subtribe, sudden change, summer stock, sundries, superclass, superfamily, superorder, superspecies, switch, the boards, the footlights, the like of, the likes of, the scenes, the stage, the theater, theater world, theatromania, theatrophobia, total change, transition, tribe, turn, turnabout, type, uncertainty, unconformism, unconformity, undependability, unevenness, unfixedness, unlikeness, unorthodoxy, unpredictability, unreliability, unsettledness, unstableness, unsteadfastness, unsteadiness, upheaval, variability, variance, variation, variegation, variousness, vaudeville, versatility, version, violent change, wantonness, wavering, waywardness, whimsicality, worsening

ROGET THESAURUS

variety

Difference

N difference, variance, variation, variety, diversity, dissimilarity, disagreement, disparity, distinction, contradistinction, alteration, modification, permutation, moods and tenses, nice distinction, fine distinction, delicate distinction, subtle distinction, shade of difference, nuance, discrimination, differentia, different thing, something else, apple off another tree, another pair of shoes, horse of a different color, this that or the other, differing, different, diverse, heterogeneous, multifarious, polyglot, distinguishable, dissimilar, varied, modified, diversified, various, divers, all manner of, all kinds of, variform, daedal, other, another, not the same, unequal, unmatched, widely apart, poles apart, distinctive, characteristic, discriminative, distinguishing, incommensurable, incommensurate, differently, il y a fagots et fagots.

Class

N class, division, category, categorema, head, order, section, department, subdepartment, province, domain, kind, sort, genus, species, variety, family, order, kingdom, race, tribe, caste, sept, clan, breed, type, subtype, kit, sect, set, subset, assortment, feather, kidney, suit, range, gender, sex, kin, manner, description, denomination, designation, rubric, character, stamp predicament, indication, particularization, selection, specification, similarity.

Multiformity

N multiformity, omniformity, variety, diversity, multifariousness, varied assortment, dissimilarity, polymorphous, multiform, multifold, multifarious, multigenerous, multiplex, heterogeneous, diversified, dissimilar, various, varied, variform, manifold, many-sided, variegated, motley, mosaic, epicene, indiscriminate, desultory, irregular, mixed, different, assorted, mingled, odd, diverse, divers, all manner of, of every description, of all sorts and kinds, et hoc genus omne, and what not? de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis, jumbled, confused, mixed up, discordant, inharmonious, unmatched, unrelated, nonuniform, omniform, omnigenous, omnifarious, protean (form), harmoniously confused, variety's the very spice of life.

Unconformity

N unconformity, nonconformity, unconformity, disconformity, unconventionality, informality, abnormity, abnormality, anomaly, anomalousness, exception, peculiarity, infraction of law, breach, of law, violation of law, violation of custom, violation of usage, infringement of law, infringement of custom, infringement of usage, teratism, eccentricity, bizarrerie, oddity, je ne sais quoi, monster, monstrosity, rarity, freak, freak of Nature, weirdo, mutant, rouser, snorter, individuality, idiosyncrasy, originality, mannerism, aberration, irregularity, variety, singularity, exemption, salvo, nonconformist, nondescript, character, original, nonesuch, nonsuch, monster, prodigy, wonder, miracle, curiosity, flying fish, black sheep, black swan, lusus naturae, rara avis, queer fish, mongrel, random breed, half-caste, half-blood, half-breed, metis, crossbreed, hybrid, mule, hinny, mulatto, tertium quid, hermaphrodite, phoenix, chimera, hydra, sphinx, minotaur, griffin, griffon, centaur, saggittary, kraken, cockatrice, wyvern, roc, dragon, sea serpent, mermaid, merman, merfolk, unicorn, Cyclops, men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders, teratology, fish out of water, neither one thing nor another, neither fish nor fowl, neither fish flesh nor fowl nor good red herring, one in a million, one in a way, one in a thousand, outcast, outlaw, off the beaten track, oasis, uncomformable, exceptional, abnormal, abnormous, anomalous, anomalistic, out of order, out of place, out of keeping, out of tune, out of one's element, irregular, arbitrary, teratogenic, lawless, informal, aberrant, stray, wandering, wanton, peculiar, exclusive, unnatural, eccentric, egregious, out of the beaten track, off the beaten track, out of the common, out of the common run, beyond the pale of, out of the pale of, misplaced, funny, unusual, unaccustomed, uncustomary, unwonted, uncommon, rare, curious, odd, extraordinary, out of the ordinary, strange, monstrous, wonderful, unexpected, unaccountable, outre, out of the way, remarkable, noteworthy, queer, quaint, nondescript, none such, sui generis, unfashionable, fantastic, grotesque, bizarre, outlandish, exotic, tombe des nues, preternatural, denaturalized, heterogeneous, heteroclite, amorphous, mongrel, amphibious, epicene, half blood, hybrid, androgynous, androgynal, asymmetric, adelomorphous, bisexual, hermaphrodite, monoclinous, qualified, singular, unique, one-of-a-kind, newfangled, novel, non-classical, original, unconventional, unheard of, unfamiliar, undescribed, unprecedented, unparalleled, unexampled, unconformably, except, unless, save barring, beside, without, save and except, let alone, however, yet, but, once in a blue moon, once in a million years, Int, what on earth!, what in the world!, What the devil!, Holy cow!, Can you top that?, Sacre bleu, never was seen the like, never was heard the like, never was known the like, I could hardly believe it, I saw it, but I didn't believe it.