polymorphism.

1. The occurrence of distinct forms or variants within a population, species, or biological system.

2. The ability of a substance to occur in more than one crystalline structure.

3. In programming, the use of a common interface or operation with values of different types, with behavior appropriate to each type.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• genetic polymorphism
• color polymorphism

On the page

Color polymorphism explained why the two populations did not always look alike.

The genetic polymorphism persisted without producing an obvious difference in outward appearance.

Usage notes

Primary category: sci-fi. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.