permutation • / per-myoo-TAY-shun / • noun

Permutation is a formal word for any one of the many different ways or forms in which something exists or can be arranged. It can also refer to a major or fundamental change in something based primarily on rearrangement of its existing elements. Permutation is usually used in its plural form.

• Early permutations of the design look nothing like the final result.
• The system has gone through several permutations.