polymorphic

adj

Etymology: From poly- + -morphic.

1. Relating to polymorphism (any sense), able to have several shapes or forms.

   “I refer to those genera which have sometimes been called "protean" or "polymorphic," in which the species present an inordinate amount of variation; and hardly two naturalists can agree which forms to rank as species and which as varieties.”

   “1897, Grant Allen, An African Millionaire Dr. Beddersley came -- a dapper little man, with pent-house eyebrows, and keen, small eyes, whom I suspected at sight of being Colonel Clay himself in another of his clever polymorphic embodiments.”

2. Having or relating to the ability to take multiple data types for a single parameter.

   “Polymorphic redefinition in C++ is achieved by the use of virtual functions.”

   “A polymorphic call looks like a procedural call, but where a procedural call has only one possible target subroutine, a polymorphic call can result in the execution of one of several different subroutines.”

3. Relating to a compound that can crystallize into two or more distinct forms (e.g. carbon, which can crystalize into coal, graphite, diamond, etc.)

   “The fact that polymorphic equilibrium is not a dynamic equilibrium is significant with respect to the random distribution of velocity of temperature agitation among the molecules.”