variable
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Having no fixed quantitative value.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
vehreeuhbuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈvɛɹiəbəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
mathematics
Having no fixed quantitative value.
Able to vary or be varied.
Likely to vary.
Marked by diversity or difference.
noun
mathematics
A quantity that can assume any of a set of values
Something whose value may be dictated or discovered.
programming
A named memory location in which a program can store intermediate results and from which it can read them.
Something that is likely to vary; something that is subject to variation
“The weather is one variable to be considered.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Having no fixed quantitative value.
Used this way, variable is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a mathematical use: it is defined precisely and belongs to working with figures and calculations rather than to ordinary conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Mathematics
- Geometry
- Academic writing
- Education/classroom
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use variable
- “Variable winds or seasons; a variable quantity; a variable resistor.”adjective
- “There are several variables to consider here.”noun
- “The weather is one variable to be considered.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
An instance of change.
An event that departs from expectations.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A star that varies noticeably in brightness.
Resistor for regulating current.
A quantity that can assume any of a set of values.
Propeller for which the angle of the blades is adjustable.
A variable whose values are independent of changes in the values of other variables.
A variable whose values are independent of changes in the values of other variables.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: quantity that can assume any of a set of values
Antonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.