variance

Academic Word List, sublist 1.

About 12.75 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. noun The act of varying or the state of being variable.
2. noun A difference between what is expected and what is observed; deviation.
3. noun The state of differing or being in conflict.
4. noun An official permit to do something that is ordinarily forbidden by regulations.
5. noun A discrepancy between two legal documents.
6. noun A departure from a cause of action originally in a complaint.
7. noun The second central moment in probability; the square of the standard deviation.
8. noun The number of degrees of freedom in a system.

Similar words

variation variableness variability variant division divergence disagreement discrepancy diversity alteration

Often followed by

of with in is and for between was to

Word family

variability variable variables variably variances variant variants variation variations varied