[mohd-l] 
| 1. | of or pertaining to mode, manner, or form. |
| 2. | Music.
|
| 3. | Also, single modal. Transportation. pertaining to or suitable for transportation involving only one form of a carrier, as truck, rail, or ship. Compare bimodal (def. 3), intermodal. |
| 4. | Grammar. noting or pertaining to mood. |
| 5. | Philosophy. pertaining to a mode of a thing, as distinguished from one of its basic attributes or from its substance or matter. |
| 6. | Logic. exhibiting or expressing some phase of modality. |
| 7. | modal auxiliary. |
| mod·al (mōd'l) adj.
[Medieval Latin modālis, from Latin modus, measure; see med- in Indo-European roots.] mod'al·ly adv. |
| modal auxiliary n. A verb characteristically used with other verbs to express mood or tense. In English, the modal auxiliaries are can, may, must, ought, shall, should, will, and would. Also called modal. |
modal
1. (Of an interface) Having modes. Modeless interfaces are generally considered to be superior because the user does not have to remember which mode he is in.
2. See modal logic.
3. In MS Windows programming, A window with the label "WS_MODAL" will stay on the screen and claim all the user-input. Other windows can only be accessed if the MODAL window is closed. Such a window would typically be used for an error dialog box to warn the user for something important, like "Critical error, shut down the system and restart".
(1995-02-07)
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