at variance
2
7.7
- idiom
- Formal
:
en desacuerdo
- The most important management issue, however, is that incentive payments to individual managers are at variance with the principles of quality improvement.
- at variance with the findings
- at variance with information
- at variance with results
We suffer from a dialectic which confuses the empirical use of reason and sets reason at variance with itself.
- We suffer from a dialectic which confuses the empirical use of reason and sets reason at variance with itself.
Examples
-
Direct and indirect control of expression is at variance with the first part of the definition.
Academic text (1994) -
In one important respect, these results are at variance with the mechanically driven model.
Academic text (1994) -
But reality was at variance with the stated policy.
Academic text (2000) -
A number of investigators have reported findings that are at variance with the above studies.
Academic text (2010) -
In addition, national agendas have often been at variance with the needs of border residents in both countries.
Academic text (1998) -
The options that student teachers selected with respect to instructional feedback were at variance with professional education training and research.
Academic text (2000) -
Overall, however, these findings are at variance with a pervasive trend in the literature that points to difficulty in home-school communication.
Academic text (1997) -
The true state of affairs is wildly at variance with this contrived view of academic life.
Academic text (1997) -
Van Dyck's self-depiction as Saint Sebastian was, of course, at variance with Counter-Reformation edicts against disguised portraits in devotional painting.
Academic text (2015) -
The committee's decision was at variance with the views of the majority of the members.
Synonyms
96
4.7
Not staying the same over time and not agreeing with other facts
60
4.8
Not agreeing with someone or something
9
7.4
Not fitting together and often clashing in sound or opinion
7
4.2
Having ideas, facts, or feelings that do not agree with each other
1
7.1
Colors, opinions, or sounds that do not match and seem to clash
1
7.2
People or things that do not agree with each other
1
8.2
Does not match other facts or evidence
Not friendly with someone because of an argument
Impossible to make two people or ideas agree
Antonyms
How Aligned
Surface Forms
Morphology
at + variance
The adjective phrase is directly compositional: 'variance' means a difference or disagreement and the preposition 'at' locates someone in that state, so 'at variance' straightforwardly means 'in a state of disagreement'. This is a regular locative/state construction (similar to 'at odds') and is therefore predictable to learners who know the constituent words.
Etymology
The adjective at variance comes from the idea of the word variance, which means a change or difference. Imagine two lines or accounts that move apart and do not match, so to be at variance means to be 'not in agreement' or to disagree.