VARIABILITY

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does variability mean? 

• VARIABILITY (noun)
  The noun VARIABILITY has 2 senses:

1. the quality of being subject to variation

2. the quality of being uneven and lacking uniformity

  Familiarity information: VARIABILITY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VARIABILITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being subject to variation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

variability; variableness; variance

Hypernyms ("variability" is a kind of...):

changeability; changeableness (the quality of being changeable; having a marked tendency to change)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "variability"):

variedness (characterized by variation)

variegation (variability in coloration)

personal equation (variability attributable to individual differences)

Antonym:

invariability (the quality of being resistant to variation)

Derivation:

variable ((used of a device) designed so that a property (as e.g. light) can be varied)

variable (liable to or capable of change)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of being uneven and lacking uniformity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

unevenness; variability

Hypernyms ("variability" is a kind of...):

irregularity; unregularity (not characterized by a fixed principle or rate; at irregular intervals)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "variability"):

rockiness (the quality of abounding in rocks and stones)

ruggedness (the quality of being topologically uneven)

jaggedness (something irregular like a bump or crack in a smooth surface)

patchiness (unevenness in quality or performance)

waviness (unevenness produced by waves or wrinkles)

Antonym:

invariability (a quality of uniformity and lack of variation)

Derivation:

variable (marked by diversity or difference)

 Context examples 

In contrast, sites from the foot showed the most variability over both the short and long term.

(Skin microbes fairly stable over time, NIH)

But this amount of variability has never been observed.

(Hubble Discovers Moon Orbiting the Dwarf Planet Makemake, NASA)

In fact, for every hour of variability in time to bed and time asleep, a person may have up to a 27% greater chance of experiencing a metabolic abnormality.

(Study links irregular sleep patterns to metabolic disorders, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A measurement of variability of concentration for Cmin and Cmax between dose time and Tau.

(Concentration Variability Between Dose Time and Tau, NCI Thesaurus)

That variability in health may be better captured by biologic age than chronologic age.

(Older biologic age linked to elevated breast cancer risk, National Institutes of Health)

There is genetic heterogeneity and phenotypic variability.

(Left Ventricular Non-Compaction Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

Either of two arteries (left or right) that have a high degree of variability in their origin from the aorta and that give rise to numerous branches.

(Phrenic Artery, NCI Thesaurus)

In a crossover trial, variability in each subject is used to assess treatment differences.

(Intra Subject Variability, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Despite amino acid variability, ARM repeat structures are highly conserved.

(Armadillo Repeat, NCI Thesaurus)

It was felt that the Heaf test was easier to interpret, with less inter-observer variability, and that less training was required to administer and to read the test.

(Heaf Tuberculin Skin Test, NCI Thesaurus)