Definition of: mutation

(my·tā′shən) noun
1. The act or process of change; alteration; variation.
2. Modification of one vowel by another; umlaut. See UMLAUT.
3. Biol. A sudden, well-marked, transmissible variation in the organism of a plant or animal, especially as resulting from new combinations of genes and chromosomes and as distinguishable from cumulative evolutionary changes over a long period.
4. Change; hence, succession and serial succession; consecutive order. See synonyms under CHANGE. [<L mutatio, -onis]
—mu·ta′tion·al adjective