a. Physical Chem. [f. TRI- 5 + VARIANT a.] Applied to a system having three degrees of freedom or variable factors; e.g., one in which the temperature, pressure, and concentration of the components can be varied independently without destroying the nature of the system.
1902. Trevor, in Jrnl. Phys. Chem., VI. 136. I would therefore suggest … that when the variance is successively zero, one, two, three … the system be said to be in an Invariant, Univariant, Bivariant, Trivariant … state.
[Cf. 1904. A. Findlay, Phase Rule and its Applications.]
