DictionaryAI

various

VAIR-ee-uhs/ˈvɛəɹi.əs/

3 meanings of various

Practice

  1. 1
    a number ofdeterminer
    More than one, taken from an unspecified or indeterminate set of things.

    The report drew on various sources scattered across several archives.

    Various factors contributed to the company's slow decline that year.

    UsageComes before a plural noun, like several: various ways. Various of + a known group also occurs: various of the rules.

    Similarseveral, many, numerous, multiple

  2. 2
    diverseadjective
    Made up of many different kinds or elements and so varied as a whole, as in her interests were many and various.

    His talents proved remarkably various, spanning music, engineering, and poetry.

    The island's wildlife is rich and various, from tiny tree frogs to giant tortoises.

    Similardiverse, varied, wide-ranging, manifold, eclectic

    Oppositeuniform, homogeneous, limited, narrow

  3. 3
    adjectivedated
    Different from others of the same kind, as a variant form or version is.

    UsageToday variant or different usually does this job.

    Similardiffering, divergent, different

    Note

    An older sense in which the word means 'variant' rather than 'many': a various reading of a Biblical text is one that departs from the received wording. Latin varius, also behind the counting sense, had meanings including 'diverse', 'changeable', and 'fickle'.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of various apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French "varieux," from Latin "varius" ("manifold, diverse, changeable, fickle"). It can be analyzed as "vary" plus the suffix "-ous."

Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts