A form or version of something that differs in some respect from other forms of the same thing or from a standard. The new variant of the software includes several bug fixes and improvements.
A different spelling, pronunciation, or form of a word that is accepted as correct. The word 'color' is a variant of 'colour' used in American English.
A version of a virus or bacterium that has undergone mutation. The Delta variant of the virus was more transmissible than the original strain.
Computing: a data type or value that can hold data of various kinds. The script returns a variant so it can pass back either a number or a string.