All 4 Uses of
vary
in
The Lone Star Ranger
- The number varies.†
Chpt 5 *varies = differs; or changes
- These men were more variable than children, as unstable as water, as dangerous as dynamite.†
Chpt 7variable = able to changestandard suffix: The suffix "-able" in variable means able to be. This is the same pattern you see in words like breakable, understandable, and comfortable. Note that when "-able" is placed at the end of a word that ends in "Y", the "Y" is often replaced with "I" as in enviable and deniable.
- Upon it, and leaning against a hitching-rail, were men of varying ages, most of them slovenly in old jeans and slouched sombreros.†
Chpt 15varying = differing; or changing
- No person of veracity known to Colonel Webb had ever seen Cheseldine, and those who claimed that doubtful honor varied so diversely in descriptions of the chief that they confused the reality and lent to the outlaw only further mystery.†
Chpt 15varied = differed; or changed
Definition:
to be different, or to change
Vary is often used to describe small differences or changes--especially about things of the same type. It would be more common to say "The weight of full-grown elephants varies depending upon diet and other factors," than to say "The weight of elephants varies from that of mice."