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Mod. Gk

modal

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7 dictionary results for: modal

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

mod·al

[mohd-l] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	of or pertaining to mode, manner, or form.

Music.

a.	pertaining to mode, as distinguished from key.

b.	based on a scale other than major or minor.

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.

–noun

7.	modal auxiliary.

[Origin: 1560–70; < ML modālis. See mode¹, -al¹

]

—Related forms

mod·al·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

mod·al (mōd'l) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Of, relating to, or characteristic of a mode.
Grammar Of, relating to, or expressing the mood of a verb.
Music Of, relating to, characteristic of, or composed in any of the modes typical of medieval church music.
Philosophy Of or relating to mode without referring to substance.
Logic Expressing or characterized by modality.
Statistics Of or relating to a statistical mode or modes.

n. See modal auxiliary.

[Medieval Latin modālis, from Latin modus, measure; see med- in Indo-European roots.]

mod'al·ly adv.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
modal

1569, term in logic, from M.Fr. modal, from M.L. modalis "of or pertaining to a mode," from L. modus "measure, manner, mode." Musical sense is from 1597.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

modal
adjective
1.	relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a distribution; "the modal age at which American novelists reach their peak is 30"
2.	of or relating to a musical mode; especially written in an ecclesiastical mode
3.	relating to or expressing the mood of a verb; "modal auxiliary"
noun
1.	an auxiliary verb (such as 'can' or 'will') that is used to express modality [syn: modal auxiliary verb]

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Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

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)