various
adjEtymology Borrowed from Middle French varieux, from Latin varius (“manifold, diverse, various, parti-colored, variegated, also changing, changeable, fickle, etc.”). By surface analysis, vary + -ous.
1
Having a broad range (of different elements).
- The reasons are various.
- 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.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:
1 more example
- The penalty for the breach of various contracts is scourging with stripes[…]1922, Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization, page 114:
2
Dated That varies or differs from others; variant; different, sundry.
- a various reading of a Biblical text
- Synonyms
- diverse, manifold, miscellaneous, motley, multifarious, sundry
- Antonyms
- monotonous
- Derived terms
- many and various, various and sundry, variously, various reading