variety

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a difference that is usually pleasant

   They go to France for variety.

2. 2
   noun

   A deviation or difference.

   The difference, therefore, in theſe animals, ariſes rather from their habits than their confirmation; and, upon examination, there will be leſs variety found betvween them than between birds that live upon land, and thoſe that ſwim upon the water.

3. 3
   noun

   A specific variation of something.

   The ſpirit of that competition burns / With all varieties of ill by turns, / Each vainly magnifies his own ſucceſs, / Reſents his fellows, wiſhes it were leſs, […]

4. 4
   noun

   A collection or number of different things.

   But nether in this maner, nor any other particular procedyng, can we ſufficiently direct yow: but, notyng unto yow the generalitees of our deſyre, referr yow to apply your doings to the varieté and occurrency of thyngs there.

5. 5
   noun

   The quality of being varied; diversity.

   Variety is the spice of life.

6. 6
   noun

   noticeable heterogeneity

7. 7
   noun

   a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality

8. 8
   noun

   a show consisting of a series of short unrelated performances

Etymology

From Middle French varieté (“variety”) (modern French variété (“variety; genre, type”)) or directly from its etymon Latin varietās (“difference; diversity, variety”) + English -ty (suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives); by surface analysis, various + -ety. Varietās is derived from varius (“different, diverse, various; variegated”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to abandon; to give out; to leave”)) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being). The English word displaced the native Old English mislīcnes. Sense 1.3.2 (“total number…