noun

• (countable)
• A deviation or difference.
• A specific variation of something.
• (biology, loosely) An animal or plant (or a group of such animals or plants) with characteristics causing it to differ from other animals or plants of the same species; a strain or cultivar.
• (botany, taxonomy) A rank in a taxonomic classification below species and (if present) subspecies, and above form; hence, an organism of that rank.
• (linguistics) A specific form of a language, neutral to whether that form is an accent, dialect, register, etc., and to its prestige level; an isolect or lect.
• (philately) A stamp, or set of stamps, which has one or more characteristics (such as colour, paper, etc.) differing from other stamps in the same issue, especially if such differences are intentionally introduced.
• A collection or number of different things.
• (algebra)
• In universal algebra: an equational class; the class of all algebraic structures of a given signature, satisfying a given set of identities.
• (cybernetics) The total number of distinct states of a system; also, the logarithm to the base 2 of the total number of distinct states of a system.
• (uncountable)
• The quality of being varied; diversity.
• (radio, television, theater) The kind of entertainment given in variety performances or shows; also, the production of, or performance in, variety performances or shows.
• (algebraic geometry) Ellipsis of algebraic variety (“the set of solutions of a given system of polynomial equations over the real or complex numbers; any of certain generalisations of such a set that preserves the geometric intuition implicit in the original definition”). [(algebraic geometry) The set of solutions of a given system of polynomial equations over the real or complex numbers; any of certain generalisations of such a set that preserves the geometric intuition implicit in the original definition.]
• (radio, television, theater) Ellipsis of variety performance. or variety show (“a type of entertainment featuring a succession of short, unrelated performances by various artistes such as (depending on the medium) acrobats, comedians, dancers, magicians, singers, etc.”).