the state, quality, or fact of being variable, divergent, different, or anomalous.
an instance of varying; difference; discrepancy.
Also called mean square deviation. Statistics. the square of the standard deviation.
Physics, Chemistry. the number of degrees of freedom of a system.
Law.
a difference or discrepancy, as between two statements or documents in law that should agree.
a departure from the cause of action originally stated in the complaint.
an official permit to do something normally forbidden by regulations, especially by building in a way or for a purpose normally forbidden by a zoning law or a building code.
a disagreement, dispute, or quarrel.
Idioms for variance
at variance,
(of things) in a state of difference or disagreement.
(of persons) in a state of controversy or dissension: at variance with one's superiors.
Origin of variance
1300–50; Middle English <Latin variantia, equivalent to vari(āre) to vary) + -antia-ance
According to historians, this scope of variance can be credibly hypothesized from the sheer number of technical terms used in contemporary sources to describe them.
Know Your Historical Warships: From 7th Century BC – 17th Century AD|Dattatreya Mandal|April 4, 2020|Realm of History
Usually, it involves variances that are quite high from the original plan, which means that they are highly subject to judicial challenge.
Why Rent Control Doesn’t Work (Ep. 373 Rebroadcast)|Stephen J. Dubner|March 12, 2020|Freakonomics
And increased coverage explained 88% of the variance in death rate— an extremely strong correlation.
Is The Media Marketing Pain Pills to Addicts?|Maia Szalavitz|March 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But we should remember that the economy explains the large majority of the variance in political trust and approval.
You Can Blame the Economy for President Obama's Unpopularity|Jamelle Bouie|November 13, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But that conceals a great deal of variance in the outcomes: for some people, the expense isnt' worth it at all.
Well, it suggests that college is to some extent a lottery; the averages are concealing a lot of variance.
Higher Education and Earnings: Now With Graphs|Megan McArdle|February 20, 2013|DAILY BEAST
My mind is not made up fully as to whether the variance vitiates the Record or not.
Red-Tape and Pigeon-Hole Generals|William H. Armstrong
Even the virtuous fall sometimes to variance, when their virtues are of different kinds and tending to extremes.
Rasselas|Samuel Johnson
As one of the fruits of polygamy, the children of different mothers are always in a state of variance.
Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa|David Livingstone
It is impossible for two characters to be more at variance than the real and fictitious Falstaff.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
The practice was at variance with the old sessional order: it is consistent with the new standing order of 1845.
Notes & Queries, No. 38, Saturday, July 20, 1850|Various
British Dictionary definitions for variance
variance
/ (ˈvɛərɪəns) /
noun
the act of varying or the quality, state, or degree of being divergent; discrepancy
an instance of diverging; dissensionour variance on this matter should not affect our friendship
at variance
(often foll by with)(of facts, etc) not in accord; conflicting
(of persons) in a state of dissension
statisticsa measure of dispersion obtained by taking the mean of the squared deviations of the observed values from their mean in a frequency distribution
a difference or discrepancy between two steps in a legal proceeding, esp between a statement in a pleading and the evidence given to support it
(in the US and Canada) a licence or authority issued by the board of variance to contravene the usual rule, esp to build contrary to the provision of a zoning code
chemthe number of degrees of freedom of a system, used in the phase rule
accountingthe difference between actual and standard costs of production