- an ordered arrangement of the numbers, terms, etc, of a set into specified groups: the permutations of a, b, and c, taken two at a time, are ab, ba, ac, ca, bc, cb
- a group formed in this way. The number of permutations of n objects taken r at a time is n!/(n–r)!Symbol: nPr
Compare combination
- a combination of items made by reordering
- an alteration; transformation
- a fixed combination for selections of results on football poolsUsually shortened to: perm
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
per•mu•ta•tion /ˌpɜrmyʊˈteɪʃən/USA pronunciation
n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- [uncountable] the act of permuting;
rearrangement. - Mathematics any of the changes that result from such rearrangement:[countable]Two of the possible permutations of the elements abc are acb or bac.
per•mu•ta•tion
(pûr′myŏŏ tā′shən),USA pronunciation n.
per′mu•ta′tion•al, adj.
per′mu•ta′tion•ist, n.
- the act of permuting or permutating;
alteration;
transformation. - Mathematics
- Mathematicsthe act of changing the order of elements arranged in a particular order, as abc into acb, bac, etc., or of arranging a number of elements in groups made up of equal numbers of the elements in different orders, as a and b in ab and ba;
a one-to-one transformation of a set with a finite number of elements. - any of the resulting arrangements or groups. Cf. combination (def. 8b).
- Mathematicsthe act of changing the order of elements arranged in a particular order, as abc into acb, bac, etc., or of arranging a number of elements in groups made up of equal numbers of the elements in different orders, as a and b in ab and ba;
- Latin permūtātiōn- (stem of permūtātiō) thoroughgoing change. See per-, mutation, permute
- Middle French permutacion)
- Middle English permutacioun (1325–75
per′mu•ta′tion•ist, n.
- 1. modification, transmutation, change.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
permutation /ˌpɜːmjʊˈteɪʃən/ n
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'permutation' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
combination
- perm
- permutate
- permute
- anadama bread
- cycle
- even permutation
- moniker
- odd permutation
- order
- permutation group
- transposition
- symmetric function
