various

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French varieux, from Latin varius (“manifold, diverse, various, parti-colored, variegated, also changing, changeable, fickle, etc.”). By surface analysis, vary +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛə.ɹi.əs/
• (General American, without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛɚ.i.əs/, (among some speakers) /ˈvæɹ.i.əs/

  • Audio (US, without the Mary–marry–merry merger); /ˈvɛɚ.i.əs/:

    (file)

  • Audio (US, without the Mary–marry–merry merger); /ˈvæɹ.i.əs/:

    (file)

• (General American, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛɹ.i.əs/

  • Audio (US, Mary–marry–merry merger):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛəɹiəs

Determiner

various

1. More than one (of an indeterminate set of things).

   Various books have been taken.

   There are various ways to fix the problem.

   You have broken various of the rules.

Adjective

various (not comparable)

1. Having a broad range (of different elements).

   The reasons are various.

   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     For this scene, a large number of supers are engaged, and in order to further swell the crowd, practically all the available stage hands have to ‘walk on’ dressed in various coloured dominoes, and all wearing masks.

   • 1922, Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization‎^[1], page 114:

     The penalty for the breach of various contracts is scourging with stripes […]

2. (dated) That varies or differs from others; variant; different.

   a various reading of a Biblical text

Synonyms

• diverse, manifold, miscellaneous, motley, multifarious, sundry; See also Thesaurus:heterogeneous

Antonyms

• monotonous

Derived terms

• many and various
• various and sundry
• variously
• various reading

 

Related terms

• variant
• variation
• variegate
• variety
• variously
• vary

 

Translations

an eclectic range of

• Arabic: مُخْتَلِف (ar) (muḵtalif), مُتَنَوَّع (mutanawwaʕ), شَتَّى (šattā)
• Armenian: տարբեր (hy) (tarber)
• Azerbaijani: müxtəlif (az), cürbəcür
• Bashkir: төрлө (törlö)
• Basque: askotariko
• Belarusian: ро́зны m (rózny)
• Bulgarian: разли́чен (bg) (razlíčen), ра́зен (bg) (rázen)
• Burmese: အဖုံဖုံ (my) (a.hpumhpum)
• Catalan: varis (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 各種（的） / 各种（的） (zh) (gèzhǒng de)

• Czech: rozdílný (cs), rozličný, různý (cs), rozmanitý (cs)
• Danish: forskellige pl
• Dutch: verscheiden (nl), uiteenlopend (nl), divers (nl)
• Esperanto: diversa
• Finnish: eri (fi), erilainen (fi); vaihteleva (fi), moninainen (fi)
• French: divers (fr)
• Georgian: სხვადასხვა (sxvadasxva), განსხვავებული (gansxvavebuli), სხვადასხვაგვარი (sxvadasxvagvari), სხვადასხვანაირი (sxvadasxvanairi), ნაირ-ნაირი (nair-nairi), მრავალფეროვანი (mravalperovani)
• German: verschiedene (de)
• Greek: διάφορος (el) (diáforos)

  Ancient: διάφορος (diáphoros)

• Hawaiian: likeʻole, like ʻole
• Hindi: विभिन्न (hi) (vibhinn)
• Hungarian: különböző (hu), különféle (hu), sokféle (hu)
• Ido: diversa (io)
• Irish: ilghnéitheach, ilchineálach, éagsúil
• Italian: vario (it)
• Japanese: いろいろな (ja) (iroiro na), 様々な (ja) (samazama na)
• Kannada: ಬೇರೆಬೇರೆ (bērebēre), ವಿವಿಧ (kn) (vividha)
• Khmer: ផ្សេងៗ (phseeng phseeng), ពិពិធ (km) (pipɨt)
• Korean: 여러 가지의 (yeoreo gajiui), 다양하다 (ko) (dayanghada), 여러 (ko) (yeoreo)
• Lao: ຕ່າງໆ (tāng tāng), ນານາ (nā nā)
• Latin: varius m
• Latvian: dažādi
• Lithuanian: įvairus, skirtingas
• Macedonian: различен (različen), разновиден (raznoviden), разен (razen)
• Malayalam: വിവിധ (ml) (vividha), പല (ml) (pala)
• Maori: kanorau, whakaehu
• Marathi: विविध (vividh), वेगवेगळे (vegvegḷe), विभिन्न (vibhinna), निरनिराळे (nirnirāḷe)
• Mongolian: олон төрлийн (olon törliin)
• Norwegian: ymse, ulike (no)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: разьнъ (razĭnŭ)

• Old East Slavic: розьнъ (rozĭnŭ)
• Old English: manigfeald
• Persian: مختلف (fa) (moxtalef)
• Polish: różny (pl), rozmaity (pl)
• Portuguese: vários (pt)
• Romanian: divers (ro), variat (ro), diferit (ro), felurit (ro)
• Russian: ра́зный (ru) (ráznyj), разли́чный (ru) (razlíčnyj)
• Sanskrit: विभिन्न (sa) (vibhinna)
• Scottish Gaelic: eadar-dhealaichte
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ра̑знӣ

  Roman: rȃznī (sh), raznoliki (sh)

• Slovak: rozličný, rôzny, rozmanitý
• Slovene: različen
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wšaki

• Spanish: varios (es), diversos (es), diferentes (es), distintos (es), múltiples (es)
• Swedish: olika (sv)
• Tajik: мухталиф (tg) (muxtalif)
• Telugu: వేర్వేరు (vērvēru)
• Thai: ทั้งหลาย (th) (táng-lǎai), ต่าง (th) (dtàang), ต่าง ๆ (th) (dtàang-dtàang), นานา (th) (naa-naa)
• Tibetan: སྣ་མིན་སྣ་ཚོགས (sna min sna tshogs)
• Turkish: çeşitli (tr)
• Ukrainian: рі́зний (ríznyj), різномані́тний (riznomanítnyj)
• Vietnamese: khác nhau (vi)

Further reading

• “various”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “various”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Saviour, saviour