Variation

Noun

 * 1) The act or state 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.
 * 2) A related but distinct thing.
 * When the process didn't work, we tried a variation.
 * All of his songs are variations on a single theme.
 * 1)  The angular difference at the vessel between the direction of true north and magnetic north. Also called magnetic declination.
 * 2)  a line of play that differs from the original
 * 3)  a technique where material is repeated with alterations to the melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, texture, counterpoint or orchestration.

Derived terms

 * magnetic variation
 * theme and variations

Related terms

 * vary
 * variant

Thesaurus
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

Translations

 * Czech:
 * Galician:
 * Irish:
 * Korean:


 * Romanian: variație, variere
 * Scottish Gaelic: mùthadh, atharrachadh, caochladh
 * Swedish: variation


 * Esperanto: variaĵo
 * Spanish: variación


 * Swedish: variation, variant


 * Finnish:


 * Swedish: avvikelse


 * German:


 * Swedish: variant


 * Finnish: muuntelu
 * French: variation


 * Italian: variazione
 * Swedish: variation


 * Korean: 변종

Noun

 * 1) a variation

Related terms

 * variant