variadic

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US/vɛɹiˈædɪk/UK/vɛəɹiˈædɪk/

adjective

Taking a variable number of arguments; especially, taking arbitrarily many arguments.

“each variadic argument”

RareScrabble 14

Meanings

adjectivevariadic (not comparable)
  1. not comparablecomputingTaking a variable number of arguments; especially, taking arbitrarily many arguments.

    C's printf is one of the most widely used variadic functions.

    3 more examples

    There are some functions and predicates which we tend to think of as being able to take any number of parameters – of being of variable arity or variadic.

    1983, Alan Bundy, The Computer Modelling of Mathematical Reasoning, Academic Press, page 48

    The variadic functions that increase the valence of the input relation through the addition of a circumstance to the set of its argument-roles can be represented by means of an operator (or rather, a family of operators) ‘Circ’.

    2004, François Récanati, Literal Meaning, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 109

    However, the real max procedure of Scheme is a variadic procedure, which means that it accepts any positive number of arguments: ¶ (max 5 1 3 8 9 7 2 6 4) => 9

    2006, Nils M. Holm, Sketchy LISP: An Introduction to Functional Programming in Scheme, 2nd edition, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 53
  2. not comparablecomputingBelonging to a variadic function.

    each variadic argument

nounvariadic (plural variadics)

plural variadics

  1. computingA function that takes a variable number of arguments.

    PHP 5.6 introduced variadics that explicitly accept a variable number of parameters.

    2017, Andrew Beak, PHP 7 Zend Certification Study Guide, page 44

Origin

Translations

Czech variadický
  • variadickýtaking a variable number of arguments
Finnish variadinen
  • variadinentaking a variable number of arguments
French variadique
  • variadiquetaking a variable number of arguments
German variadisch
  • variadischtaking a variable number of arguments
Hungarian variadikus
  • variadikustaking a variable number of arguments
Russian принимающий переменное число́ параметров
  • принимающий переменное число́ параметров (prinimajuščij peremennoje čisló parametrov)taking a variable number of arguments
Spanish variádico
  • variádicotaking a variable number of arguments

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with variadic

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Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

variadic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/variadic

MLA

“variadic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/variadic. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “variadic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/variadic.

Source: variadic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.