Italian

Proper noun

Vara ?

1. A river that flows in Liguria

English

Noun

vara ‎(plural varas)

1. (historical) A unit of length in the old Spanish system (equal to 0.8359 metres) or the old Portuguese system (equal to 1.1 metres).

Anagrams

• Avar

Catalan

Noun

vara f ‎(plural vares)

1. rod

Estonian

Etymology

Related to Finnish vara.

Noun

vara ‎(genitive [please provide], partitive [please provide])

1. property, estate

Inflection

Derived terms

• kaasavara
• tarkvara

Faroese

Etymology

From Middle Low German waren.

Verb

vara ‎(third person singular past indicative vardi, third person plural past indicative vart, supine vart)

1. to take, to last, to require (about time)

Conjugation

Finnish

(index va)

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wara-z, cognates include English wary and aware. Related to Estonian vara.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋɑrɑ/
• Hyphenation: va‧ra

Noun

vara

1. reserve, backup

   Mäyrä tarvitsee paksun rasvakerroksen talven varaksi.

   A badger needs a thick layer of fat as a reserve for winter.

   Minulla on ylimääräinen tulppa varalla.

   I have an extra plug as backup.

2. (usually in the plural) resources, reserves, funds, means, assets

   Irakilla on suuret öljyvarat.

   Iraq has large oil reserves.

   Minulla ei ole tähän varaa. (literally "I don't have the funds for this.")

   I can't afford this.

3. (usually in the singular) room, margin; allowance

   Muista jättää kutistumisen varaa.

   Remember to leave an allowance for shrinking.

   Meillä ei ole varaa virheisiin.

   We have no margin for errors.

4. (mostly in idioms and proverbs) caution, concern, care; often translated into English with an adjective, see also pitää varansa

   Pidä varasi, ettet putoa.

   Be careful so that you don't fall.

   Ei vara venettä kaada. (proverb, literally "Caution does not overturn a boat")

Declension

Synonyms

• (caution, concern, care): varovaisuus

Derived terms

• allative + 3rd-pers. sg. of olla + varaa + illative = to be able to/can afford

• Minulla ei ole varaa autoon.
  • I can't afford a car.

• heittäytyä + genitive + varaan = to bank on, count on, depend on
• jättää sattuman varaan = to leave to chance/contingency
• kaiken varalta = just in case, just to make sure, to be on the safe side
• olla varalla = to be in reserve/store, be at hand, be (readily) available
• olla + genitive + varassa = to rest on (physically), to rely/depend on (figuratively)
• pitää varansa = to watch out, watch one's step, be on one's guard, keep one's eyes open
• rakentua + genitive + varaan = to be based on, be founded on, be grounded in
• siltä varalta, että... = in case (sth happens)
• adjectives: varakas, varaton
• nouns: varallisuus, varasto, varat
• verbs: varata, varoa, varoittaa
• postpositions: varalle
• prefixes: vara-

Compounds

• varainhoitaja
• varainhoitaja
• varaosa
• varapresidentti
• varapuheenjohtaja
• vararikko
• varatuomari
• varauloskäynti
• varaventtiili

Icelandic

Etymology 1

From Old Norse

Noun

vara f ‎(genitive singular vöru, nominative plural vörur)

1. article, commodity
2. (in the plural form) goods, wares, freight, commodities, merchandise

Declension

Derived terms

• vöruheiti

Etymology 2

From Old Norse.

Verb

vara ‎(weak verb, third-person singular past indicative varaði, supine varað)

1. (transitive, governs the accusative) to warn ^syn.

Derived terms

• vara við
• vara sig
• vara sig á
• varaðu þig
• varast

Synonyms

• (warn): ^def. gefa aðvörun

Etymology 3

From Middle Low German waren, whence also Swedish vara, Norwegian vare, Danish vare.

Verb

vara ‎(weak verb, third-person singular past indicative varði, supine varað)

1. (intransitive) to last, to continue, to go on ^syn.

   Hvað varir þetta lengi?‎

   How long will this last?

2. (intransitive) to last, to endure, to be permanent ^syn.

Synonyms

• (last): ^def. standa
• (endure): ^def. endast

Etymology 4

Verb

vara ‎(weak verb, third-person singular past indicative varði, supine varað)

1. (impersonal) to expect
   • 1990, the song Það sést ekki sætari mey ("None sweeter than me can be seen") from the album Gling-Gló by Björk Guðmundsdóttir & tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar (Lyrics)

     Og fyrr en mig varði

     hver strákur á mig starði

     eins og stelpur á gleym-mér-ei

     Before I would know it

     every boy would stare at me

     the way girls do at forget-me-nots

   Gestirnir komu fyrr en mig varði.

   The guests arrived earlier than expected.

Derived terms

• þá er minnst varði (suddenly, unexpectedly)

Etymology 5

Noun

vara

1. indefinite genitive plural of var

Etymology 6

Noun

vara

1. indefinite genitive plural of vör

Italian

Adjective

vara

1. feminine singular of varo

Anagrams

• avrà

Latin

Etymology

From vārus.

Noun

vāra f ‎(genitive vārae); first declension

1. fork, forked branch
2. tripod, easel

Inflection

First declension.

Adjective

vāra

1. inflection of vārus:
   1. nominative feminine singular
   2. nominative neuter plural
   3. accusative neuter plural
   4. vocative feminine singular
   5. vocative neuter plural

vārā

1. ablative feminine singular of vārus

Latvian

Etymology 1

See varš.

Noun

vara m

1. genitive singular form of varš

Etymology 2

Noun

vara f (4th declension)

1. power

Declension

Northern Sami

Noun

vara

1. accusative and genitive singular of varra

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• varen

Noun

vara m, f

1. definite feminine singular of vare

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

vara f

1. definite singular of vare

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese vara, from Latin vara. Compare Spanish vara.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal, Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈva.ɾɐ/
• Hyphenation: va‧ra

Noun

vara f (plural varas)

1. A unit of length, a yard;
2. A stick, a twig;
3. A district court, an original court, a trial court/court of first instance.

Verb

vara

1. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of varar
2. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of varar

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈva.ra/

Adverb

vara

1. in the summer

Noun

vara f

1. definite singular nominative and accusative form of vară.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin vara

Noun

vara f ‎(plural varas)

1. a long and thin stick, pole or rod
2. thin branch or cane (of a tree or bush)
3. a staff of office.
4. (bullfighting) bullfighter's lance
5. (obsolete) A unit of length, about 0.836 metre. Half a braza.

Derived terms

• varilla
• varita f
• vara mágica f

See also

• barra
• bastón
• palo
• rama

Verb

vara

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of varar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of varar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of varar.

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɑːˌra/, IPA^(key): /ˈvɑː/
• • Pronunciation of the present tense form of vara (“to be”) varies geographically and depending on the formality of the language. The most formal pronunication is /ɛːr/ with a varying degree of openness in the vowel. Less formal pronunciation in running speech varies between /eː/ and /ɛː/.
• Rhymes: -ɑː

Etymology 1

From Old Swedish vara, væra from Old Norse vera, earlier vesa, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną. Cognate with Danish være, Icelandic vera.

Noun

vara n

1. existence, being

   Varats olidliga lätthet

   The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984 novel by Milan Kundera)

Declension

Verb

vara

1. To be
   1. to occupy a place, to be (somewhere)

      Var har du varit?

      Where have you been?

   2. to occur, to take place
   3. (rare) to exist
      • c. 1847, Carl August Hagberg, translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet (c. 1601), act 3, scene 1

        Att vara eller icke vara, det är frågan: / Månn’ ädlare att lida och fördraga / Ett bittert ödes styng och pilar eller / Att ta till vapen mot ett haf af qval

        To be or not to be– that is the question: / Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

   4. (copulative) indicates that the subject and object are the same
   5. (copulative, mathematics) indicates that the values on either side of an equation are the same
   6. (copulative) indicates that the subject plays the role of the predicate nominal
   7. (copulative) connects a noun to an adjective that describes it
   8. used to form the passive voice, when stressing the end result of the process
   9. (archaic) used to form the perfect aspect with certain intransitive verbs

      Jag är uppstigen sedan en timme.

      I have been out of bed for an hour.

   10. used to indicate things like age, height, temperature, weather, ...

Conjugation

See also:

• vare (present tense conjunctive), vore (past tense conjunctive)
• ären, äro; voro (plural past tense (indicative)); varen (second person plural imperative)

Alternative forms

• va (strongly colloquial)

Related terms

• närvara
• närvaro
• tillvaro
• vara till
• var så god or varsågod
• övervara

Synonyms

• (occupy a place): befinna sig, finnas, ligga / sitta / stå
• (to exist:): existera
• (to create passive voice:): bli (when putting stress on the process), varda (archaic, only used in the past tense (and thus one uses the corresponding past tense "vart"))
• (A special verb form which does not exist for all verbs, but when it does it is constructed by addition of the suffix -s to the active voice, to be put after any suffixes for tense. It is neutral in its use, neither really stressing the action or the result over the other.)

See also

• varom

Etymology 2

From Old Swedish vara, from Middle Low German waren, from Old Saxon waron and Proto-Germanic *wazōną. Cognate with Danish vare

Verb

vara ‎(present varar, preterite varade, supine varat, imperative vara)

1. to last

   Mötet varade flera timmar.‎

   The meeting lasted several hours.

   Mjölken varar längre i kylskåpet.‎

   The milk will last longer in the fridge.

Conjugation

Related terms

• varaktig

Synonyms

• fortfara
• hålla på

Etymology 3

In expressions like ta sig till vara, ta vara på. Old Swedish vara, from Old Norse vari, cognate with Danish vare, possibly from an unattested Old Swedish vari (care), related to Icelandic vari ‎(“caution, carefullness”), but influenced by Middle Low German ware namen, related to German wahren, wahrnehmen.

Noun

vara ?

1. care

   ta vara på

   take care of, keep, not throw away, not waste

   ta sig till vara

   be careful, beware

Etymology 4

From Old Swedish vara, from Old Norse vara, from Middle Low German ware. Cognate with Danish vare, German Ware, English ware. Could be related to Sanskrit vara- (valueable).

Noun

vara c

1. a ware, goods

Declension

Related terms

Etymology 5

Attested since 1664. From var ‎(“pus”).

Verb

vara ‎(present varar, preterite varade, supine varat, imperative vara)

1. to generate pus

   Såret började vara efter några timmar.

   The wound began to fill with pus after a few hours.

Conjugation

References

• vara in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)
• vara in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

Veps

Noun

vara

1. stock, store, inventory
2. resource
3. asset

Inflection

References

• Zajceva, N. G.; Mullonen, M. I. (2007), “запас, ресурс, состояние, средство, фонд”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary], Petrozavodsk: Periodika