n. The quality or state of being variable; variableness.n. In biology, ability to vary; capability of variation; susceptibility to modification under conditions of environment, whether inherited or acquired; that plasticity or modifiability of any organism in virtue of which an animal or a plant may change in form, structure, function, size, color, or other character, lose some character or acquire another, and thus deviate from its parent-form; also, the kind or rate of variation in a given instance; the fact or act of varying. See variation, 8, variety, 6.n. In astronomy, the fact that a star or nebula changes its brightness in a more or less periodic manner.