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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Variation \Va'ri*a"tion\, noun [OE. variatioun, F. variation, L. variatio. See {Vary}.]
1. The act of varying; a partial change in the form, position, state, or qualities of a thing; modification; alternation; 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. --Locke.
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}.
Syn: Change; vicissitude; variety; deviation.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
variation
noun
1: an instance of change; the rate or magnitude of change [syn: {fluctuation}]
2: an activity that varies from a norm or standard; "any variation in his routine was immediately reported" [syn: {variance}]
3: a repetition of a musical theme in which it is modified or embellished
4: something a little different from others of the same type; "an experimental version of the night fighter"; "an emery wheel is a modern variant of the grindstone"; "the boy is a younger edition of his father" [syn: {version}, {variant}, {edition}]
5: an artifact that deviates from a norm or standard; "he patented a variation on the sandal"
6: the angle (at a particular location) between magnetic north and true north [syn: {magnetic declination}, {magnetic variation}]
7: (astronomy) any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite (especially a perturbation of the earth's moon)
8: (biology) an organism that has characteristics resulting from chromosomal alteration [syn: {mutant}, {mutation}, {sport}]
9: (ballet) a solo dance or dance figure [syn: {pas seul}]
10: the act of changing or altering something slightly but noticeably from the norm or standard; "who is responsible for these variations in taxation?"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
321 Moby Thesaurus words for "variation": Nachtmusik, Proteus, aberrancy, aberration, about-face, absolute music, accommodation, adaptation, adjustment, air varie, aleatory, aleatory music, allotropism, allotropy, alteration, altering, alternation, amelioration, anacrusis, analysis, anatomization, apostasy, arrangement, atomization, bass passage, bend, betterment, bias, bourdon, branching off, break, bridge, burden, cadence, capriciousness, chamber music, chamber orchestra, change, change of heart, change of pace, changeability, changeableness, changing, choice, choppiness, chorus, circuitousness, coda, composition, constructive change, continuity, contrariety, contrast, conversion, corner, crook, curve, dappleness, declination, defection, deflection, degeneration, degenerative change, demarcation, departure, descant, desultoriness, desynonymization, deterioration, detour, development, deviability, deviance, deviancy, deviation, deviousness, difference, differencing, differentiation, differing, digression, disaccord, disaccordance, disagreement, disconformity, discongruity, discontinuity, discordance, discrepancy, discreteness, discrimination, discursion, disequalization, disjunction, disorder, disparity, dissent, dissimilarity, dissonance, distinction, distinctness, distinguishment, divagation, divarication, divergence, divergency, diversification, diversion, diversity, division, dogleg, double, drift, drifting, eccentricity, electronic music, errantry, erraticism, etude, excursion, excursus, exercise, exorbitation, exposition, far cry, fickleness, figure, fitting, flightiness, flip-flop, fluctuation, folderol, freakishness, gradual change, hairpin, harmonic close, harmonization, her infinite variety, heterogeneity, heteromorphism, improvement, impulsiveness, inaccordance, incidental music, incompatibility, incongruity, inconsistency, inconsonance, inconstancy, indirection, individualization, individuation, inequality, inharmoniousness, inharmony, instability, instrumental music, interlude, intermezzo, introductory phrase, invention, irreconcilability, irregularity, jerkiness, manifoldness, measure, melioration, mercuriality, mitigation, mixture, modification, modifying, modulation, moodiness, motleyness, movement, multifariousness, multiplicity, musical phrase, musical sentence, mutability, mutation, nocturne, nonconformism, nonconformity, nonstandardization, nonuniformity, novelty, obliquity, odds, omnifariousness, omniformity, opposition, opus, orchestration, ornament, oscillation, otherness, overthrow, part, particularization, passage, pendulation, pererration, period, permutation, personalization, phrase, piece, pluralism, polymorphism, production, program music, qualification, radical change, raggedness, rambling, re-creation, realignment, redesign, reform, reformation, refrain, remaking, renewal, reshaping, resolution, response, restlessness, restructuring, reversal, revival, revivification, revolution, ricercar, ritornello, score, section, seesawing, segregation, separateness, separation, severalization, severance, shapeshifter, sheer, shift, shiftiness, shifting, shifting course, shifting path, shuffling, skew, slant, sonata, sonatina, specialization, stanza, statement, strain, straying, string orchestra, string quartet, study, sudden change, sweep, swerve, swerving, swinging, switch, tack, tailpiece, teeter-tottering, teetering, theme and variations, total change, tottering, transition, trio, turn, turnabout, turning, tutti, tutti passage, twist, uncertainty, unconformism, unconformity, undependability, unfixedness, unlikeness, unorthodoxy, unpredictability, unreliability, unsettledness, unstableness, unsteadfastness, unsteadiness, upheaval, vacillation, variability, variance, variegation, variety, variousness, varying, veer, versatility, verse, vicissitude, violent change, wandering, wantonness, warp, wavering, waywardness, whimsicality, work, worsening, yaw, zigzag
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