[per.mu.ta.tion] n [ME permutacioun exchange, transformation, fr. MF permutation, fr. L permutation-, permutatio, fr. permutare] (14c) 1: often major or fundamental change (as in character or condition) based primarily on rearrangement of existent elements "land-owners and peasants ... in the ~s of their tortured interdependence --P. E. Mosley"
2. a: the act or process of changing the lineal order of an ordered set of objects b: an ordered arrangement of a set of objects -- per.mu.ta.tion.al adj