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modal Definition

modal (mōd′'l)

adjective

  1. of or indicating a mode or mood
  2. Gram. of or expressing mood a modal auxiliary
    1. Jazz of or relating to compositions or improvisations based on an arrangement of modes rather than a series of chord progressions
    2. in popular music, of or characterized by the repetition of one or two chords as a harmonic base
  4. Logic expressing or characterized by modality
  5. Music of or composed in any of the medieval church modes
  6. Philos. of mode, or form, as opposed to substance
  7. Statistics having to do with a statistical mode

Etymology: ML modalis < L modus, mode

noun

Gram. modal auxiliary

modal Related Forms
mod′·ally adverb
modal Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • verb: For a more detailed look at the modal verb would, see our grammar archive.
  • shift: In large urban areas, where most of the modal shift occurs, the impact on car traffic is slightly higher.
  • logic: However, the term ' modal logic ' may be used more broadly for a family of related systems.
  • split: The County Council will set traffic targets for journey to work modal splits for each of its urban areas.
  • mu-calculus: The application of the semantics to business processes results in formal process descriptions that lend themselves to property checking through the modal mu-calculus.
  • auxiliaries: The use of modal auxiliaries differs in southern Standard English and in Scots.

Modifying Another Word

  • only: In the introductory paragraphs to Chapter Six the authors ask the question: are sentences the only modal translation unit?
  • not: If it was not modal then we could show the splash screen in a non-modal form and let the sort process continue without interruption.