Word Meanings - VARIETY - Book Publishers vocabulary database

1. The quality or state of being various; intermixture or succession of different things; diversity; multifariousness. Variety is nothing else but a continued novelty. South. The variety of colors depends upon the composition of light.

Additional info about word: VARIETY

1. The quality or state of being various; intermixture or succession of different things; diversity; multifariousness. Variety is nothing else but a continued novelty. South. The variety of colors depends upon the composition of light. Sir I. Newton. For earth this variety from heaven. Milton. There is a variety in the tempers of good men. Atterbury. 2. That which is various. Specifically: -- A number or collection of different things; a varied assortment; as, a variety of cottons and silks. He . . . wants more time to do that variety of good which his soul thirsts after. Law. Something varying or differing from others of the same general kind; one of a number of things that are akin; a sort; as, varieties of wood, land, rocks, etc. An individual, or group of individuals, of a species differing from the rest in some one or more of the characteristics typical of the species, and capable either of perpetuating itself for a period, or of being perpetuated by artificial means; hence, a subdivision, or peculiar form, of a species. Note: 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. In inorganic nature, one of those forms in which a species may occur, which differ in minor characteristics of structure, color, purity of composition, etc. Note: 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. Geographical variety , 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 , a cross between two individuals of different varieties of the same species; a mongrel. Syn. -- Diversity; difference; kind. -- Variety, Diversity. A man has a variety of employments when he does many things which are not a mere repetition of the same act; he has a diversity of employments when the several acts performed are unlike each other, that is, diverse. In most cases, where there is variety there will be more or less of diversity, but not always. One who sells railroad tickets performs a great variety of acts in a day, while there is but little diversity in his employment. All sorts are here that all the earth yields! Variety without end. Milton. But see in all corporeal nature's scene, What changes, what diversities, have been! Blackmore.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of VARIETY)

• Difference
• Separation
• destruction
• dissimilarity
• unlikeness
• disagreement
• dissonance
• discord
• contrariety
• dissent
• distinction
• dissimilitude
• estrangement
• variety
• Miscellany
• Mixture
• Intermixture
• jumble
• medley
• diversity

Related words: (words related to VARIETY)

• JUMBLEMENT
  Confused mixture.
• DISCORDABLE
  That may produce discord; disagreeing; discordant. Halliwell.
• CONTRARIETY
  1. The state or quality of being contrary; opposition; repugnance; disagreement; antagonism. There is a contrariety between those things that conscience inclines to, and those that entertain the senses. South. 2. Something which is contrary to,
• JUMBLE
  1. A confused mixture; a mass or collection without order; as, a jumble of words. 2. A small, thin, sugared cake, usually ring-shaped.
• VARIETY SHOW
  A stage entertainment of successive separate performances, usually songs, dances, acrobatic feats, dramatic sketches, exhibitions of trained animals, or any specialties. Often loosely called vaudeville show.
• DISSENTIVE
  Disagreeing; inconsistent. Feltham.
• DISSENTIATE
  To throw into a state of dissent. Feltham.
• DISTINCTION
  1. A marking off by visible signs; separation into parts; division. The distinction of tragedy into acts was not known. Dryden. 2. The act of distinguishing or denoting the differences between objects, or the qualities by which one is known from
• DISSENTIOUS
  Marked by dissensions; apt to breed discord; quarrelsome; contentious; factious. -- Dis*sen"tious*ly, adv.
• DIFFERENCE
  An addition to a coat of arms to distinguish the bearings of two persons, which would otherwise be the same. See Augmentation, and Marks of cadency, under Cadency. (more info) 1. The act of differing; the state or measure of being different or
• DISCORDOUS
  Full of discord.
• DISCORDANCE; DISCORDANCY
  State or quality of being discordant; disagreement; inconsistency. There will arise a thousand discordances of opinion. I. Taylor.
• DISSENTERISM
  The spirit or principles of dissenters. Ed. Rev.
• MEDLEY
  1. Mixed; of mixed material or color. "A medlè coat." Chaucer. 2. Mingled; confused. Dryden.
• DESTRUCTIONIST
  One who believes in the final destruction or complete annihilation of the wicked; -- called also annihilationist. Shipley. (more info) 1. One who delights in destroying that which is valuable; one whose principles and influence tend to destroy
• INTERMIXTURE
  1. A mass formed by mixture; a mass of ingredients mixed. Boyle. 2. Admixture; an additional ingredient. In this height of impiety there wanted not an intermixture of levity and folly. Bacon.
• DISSENTATION
  Dissension. W. Browne.
• DISCORDANT
  discordant, F. discordant, p. pr. of discorder, OF. also, descorder. 1. Disagreeing; incongruous; being at variance; clashing; opposing; not harmonious. The discordant elements out of which the emperor had compounded his realm did not coalesce.
• DISSIMILARITY
  Want of resemblance; unlikeness; dissimilitude; variety; as, the dissimilarity of human faces and forms. Sir W. Jones.
• DISSENTIENT
  Disagreeing; declaring dissent; dissenting. -- n.
• BORDEAUX MIXTURE
  A fungicidal mixture composed of blue vitriol, lime, and water. The formula in common use is: blue vitriol, 6 lbs.; lime, 4 lbs.; water, 35 -- 50 gallons.
• INDISTINCTION
  Want of distinction or distinguishableness; confusion; uncertainty; indiscrimination. The indistinction of many of the same name . . . hath made some doubt. Sir T. Browne. An indistinction of all persons, or equality of all orders, is far from being
• DISCORD
  Union of musical sounds which strikes the ear harshly or disagreeably, owing to the incommensurability of the vibrations which they produce; want of musical concord or harmony; a chord demanding resolution into a concord. For a discord itself is
• BEJUMBLE
  To jumble together.
• SELF-DESTRUCTION
  The destruction of one's self; self-murder; suicide. Milton.
• CONTRADISTINCTION
  Distinction by contrast. That there are such things as sins of infirmity in contradistinction to those of presumption is not to be questioned. South.