Meanings
- 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 48The 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 109However, 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
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
Anagrams
Cite this entry
variadic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/variadic
“variadic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/variadic. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “variadic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/variadic.
Source: variadic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.