How do you use the word "variety" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "variety": You must adapt to a variety of conditions. A variety of creatures can be seen under the water.

Variety Meaning

/vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA deviation or difference.

nounA specific variation of something.

Sentence Examples

You must adapt to a variety of conditions.

A variety of creatures can be seen under the water.

There is a wide variety of patterns to choose from.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

mixture diversity motley

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The store offered a wide ____ of shoes in many styles and colors.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The shop sells a large ____ of several fruits and vegetables that are grown in the local region this year today.

Word Origin & History

From Middle French varieté (“variety”) (modern French variété (“variety; genre, type”)) or directly from its etymon Latin varietās (“difference; diversity, variety”) + English -ty (suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives); by surface analysis, various + -ety. Varietās is derived from varius (“different, diverse, various; variegated”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to abandon; to give out; to leave”)) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being). The English word displaced the native Old English mislīcnes. Sense 1.3.2 (“total number of distinct states of a system; logarithm to the base 2 of the total number of distinct states of a system”) was coined by the English psychiatrist William Ross Ashby (1903–1972) in his work An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956). Cognates * Galician variedade (“variety”) * Italian varietà (“difference; variety”) * Portuguese variedade (“variety”) * Spanish variedad (“breed; variety”)

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"The difference, therefore, in theſe animals, ariſes rather from their habits than their confirmation; and, upon examination, there will be leſs variety found betvween them than between birds that live upon land, and thoſe that ſwim upon the water." — 1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of the Tortoise, and Its Kinds”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume VI, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, page 347:

"The ſpirit of that competition burns / With all varieties of ill by turns, / Each vainly magnifies his own ſucceſs, / Reſents his fellows, wiſhes it were leſs, […]" — 1785, William Cowper, “Tirocinium: Or, A Review of Schools”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 318:

"Yet the task of composing dramatic varieties, of training players, and deliberating in the theatrical senate, or even of expressing philosophically his opinions on these points, could not wholly occupy such a mind as his." — 1825, Thomas Carlyle, “Part II. From His Settlement at Manheim to His Settlement at Jena (1783–1790).”, in The Life of Friedrich Schiller. […], London: […] [C. Richards] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 77:

"In some respects he [Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon] was well fitted for his great place. […] No man was better acquainted with general maxims of statecraft. No man observed the varieties of character with a more discriminating eye." — 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter II, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 172:

"Many more ſorts of varieties of theſe kindes [of Aconitum anthora] there are, but theſe onely, as the moſt ſpecious, are nourſed vp in Floriſts Gardens for pleaſure; the other are kept by ſuch as are Catholicke obſeruers of all natures ſtore." — 1629, John Parkinson, “Aconitum. Wolfebane.”, in Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris. […], London: […] Hvmfrey Lownes and Robert Yovng […], →OCLC, page 215:

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