permutation
noun
Did you know?
Permutation has not changed all that much since it was borrowed into Middle English from Anglo-French as permutacioun, meaning "exchange, transformation." Permutacioun traces back to the Latin verb permutare, meaning "to change thoroughly, exchange," and ultimately derives from the Latin mutare, "to change." Other descendants of mutare in English include commute, mutant, and mutual. Permutation also has a specific application in the field of mathematics relating to the ordering of a given set of objects. For example, permutations of items a, b, and c are abc, acb, bac, etc.
Examples of permutation in a Sentence
Daniel Popper, New York Times, 13 Aug. 2025
The basic formula for The War of the Worlds has remained consistent through the story’s historical permutations.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 12 Aug. 2025
Over a dozen years and through many permutations, these negotiations with Tehran led to the deeply flawed 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
—John R. Bolton, The Atlantic, 9 July 2025
After comparing their data to computational models of various permutations of mantle plumes, the researchers have found that the best explanation for their observations is a single plume that moves upward in pulses.
—Nora Bradford, Scientific American, 7 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for permutation
Cite this Entry
“Permutation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/permutation. Accessed 5 Sep. 2025.
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permutation
noun
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