variance

UK: /ˈvɛəriəns/ US: /ˈvɛriəns/ ,(vâr′ē əns)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

var•i•ance /ˈvɛriəns/   n. [countable]

1. Government a permit to do something normally regulated by law, esp. to build in a way that is otherwise forbidden by a zoning law.

Idioms

2. Idioms at variance, in a state of disagreement:
   His views were at variance with mine.

See -var-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

var•i•ance  (vâr′ē əns), n. 

1. the state, quality, or fact of being variable, divergent, different, or anomalous.
2. an instance of varying;
   difference;
   discrepancy.
3. Statistics Also called mean square deviation. the square of the standard deviation.
4. Physics the number of degrees of freedom of a system.
5. 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.
6. Government an official permit to do something normally forbidden by regulations, esp. by building in a way or for a purpose normally forbidden by a zoning law or a building code.
7. a disagreement, dispute, or quarrel.
8. 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.

• Latin variantia, equivalent. to vari(āre) to vary) + -antia -ance
• Middle English 1300–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

variance / ˈvɛərɪəns/ noun

1. the act of varying or the quality, state, or degree of being divergent; discrepancy
2. an instance of diverging; dissension
3. at variance ⇒ (often followed by with) (of facts, etc) not in accord; conflicting
4. (of persons) in a state of dissension
5. a measure of dispersion obtained by taking the mean of the squared deviations of the observed values from their mean in a frequency distribution
6. 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
7. the number of degrees of freedom of a system, used in the phase rule