variance
n. C / Un. the amount of difference or change between things in a group. In science or math, it describes how much a set of numbers spreads out from the average.
n. the state or quality of being different, divergent, or inconsistent. In a statistical context, it represents the expectation of the squared deviation of a random variable from its mean.
There is a lot of variance in the test scores.
The committee noticed a significant variance between the estimated budget and the actual spending for the project.
While the two species appear identical to the naked eye, genetic variance reveals that they diverged several million years ago due to geographic isolation.
From Middle English variance, variaunce, equivalent to vary + -ance, from Old French variance or directly from Anglo-Latin variaunce, veriaunce, wariaunce; all from Latin variantia.
Uncountable when referring to the general quality of being different; countable when referring to specific instances or statistical values. Often takes the preposition 'between' or 'in'.
a variance between the twoa variation between the twoWhile similar, 'variance' is often reserved for statistical or formal contexts, whereas 'variation' is the more common word for general differences in form or amount.