Collocations for variation - noun

considerable, dramatic, enormous, extreme, great, major, marked, significant, substantial, tremendous, wide
minor, slight, small, subtle
subtle variations of light and texture

numerous
endless, infinite
natural
complex
random
systematic
local, regional
climatic, cultural, environmental, genetic, geographic, geographical, linguistic
annual, daily, day-to-day, seasonal, year-to-year

amount, degree, level

reflect, show
The businesses showed a dramatic variation in how they treated their staff.

find, observe, see
Considerable variation was found in the terms offered by different banks.

analyse/analyze
account for, explain

occur

variation according to
variation according to the time of year

variation across
She is studying linguistic variation across the social range.

variation among
variation among the students in terms of ability

variation between
variations between different accents

variation by
There is little variation by sex or social class in these attitudes.

variation in
slight variations in pressure

variation on
the story is a variation on ‘Treasure Island’

variation with
temperature variation with altitude

variation within
There may be striking variations within a species.

a range of variation
a variation on a theme
His numerous complaints are all variations on a theme.