variability

English

Etymology

Derived form of variable, from Old French variable; see variable +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌvɛəɹ.i.əˈbɪl.ə.ti/, /-ɪ.ti/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US, without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˌvæɹ.i.əˈbɪl.ə.ti/, /-ɪ.ti/
• (US, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˌvɛɹ.i.əˈbɪl.ə.ti/, /-ɪ.ti/

Noun

variability (countable and uncountable, plural variabilities)

1. The state or characteristic of being variable.

   The experiment showed considerable variability in the results.

   Climate variability affects crop production.

   genetic variability

   natural variability

   high variability

2. The degree to which a thing is variable. In data or statistics this is often a measurement of distance from the mean or a description of data range.

Synonyms

• variableness

Derived terms

• biovariability
• covariability
• histovariability
• hypervariability
• intervariability
• microvariability

Translations

state

• Bulgarian: променливост (bg) f (promenlivost), изменчивост (bg) (izmenčivost)
• Catalan: variabilitat (ca) f
• Finnish: muuttuvuus, vaihtelevuus (fi)
• French: variabilité (fr) f
• Galician: variabilidade (gl) f
• Georgian: ცვალებადობა (cvalebadoba)
• Indonesian: variabilitas (id)
• Malay: variabiliti
• Middle English: mutabilite
• Portuguese: variabilidade (pt) f
• Romanian: variabilitate (ro) f
• Spanish: variabilidad (es) f
• Tagalog: pagkakaiba-iba

degree

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 變率 / 变率 (biànlǜ)

• Finnish: vaihtelu (fi)
• French: variabilité (fr)
• Georgian: ცვალებადობა (cvalebadoba)
• Italian: variabilità (it)
• Portuguese: variabilidade (pt)
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: variabilidad (es)

Further reading

• “variability”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “variability”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.