Va-ri'e-ty, n.

n. [Fr. variété, Pr. varietat, Sp. variedad, Pg. variedade, It. varietà, Lat. varietas. See VARIOUS.]

1Sense 1. The quality of being various; difference; diversity; intermixture or succession of different things.

Variety is nothing else but a continued novelty. South.

The variety of colors depends on the composition of light. Newton.

For earth hath this variety from heaven. Milton.

There is a variety in the tempers of good men. Atterbury.

2Sense 2. That which is various; as, (a.) A number or collection of different things; a varied assortment; as, a variety of cottons and silks.

He wants to do a variety of good things. Law.

(b.) Something varying or differing from others of the same general kind; one of a number of things akin to another; as, varieties of wood, of land, of rocks. (c.) (Nat. Hist.) (1.) (Bot. & Zoöl.) Any form or condition of structure under a species which differs in its characteristics from those typical to the species, as in color, shape, size, and the like, and which is capable either of perpetuating itself for a period, or of being perpetuated by artificial means; also, any of the various forms under a species, meeting the conditions mentioned. A form characterized by an abnormality of structure, or any difference from the type, that is not capable of being perpetuated through two or more generations, is not called a variety.

Varieties differ from species in that any two, however unlike, will mutually propagate indefinitely (unless they are in their nature un fertile, 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 most 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.

(2.) (Inorganic Nature.) Any condition of a species differing in color, crystalline form or structure, or other characteristics, from those which belong to the species in its purity and highest perfection, and arising from impurities or circumstances attending its origin; as, under quartz, the varieties rose-quartz, amethyst, radiated, &c.; also, any of the different conditions or forms of a series, the typical kind being ranked with the others as one of the varieties. Dana.

Synonyms—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.