modality
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ɪBased on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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| a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison. |
| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |
modality (məʊˈdælɪtɪ) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n , pl -ties | |
| 1. | the condition of being modal |
| 2. | a quality, attribute, or circumstance that denotes mode, mood, or manner |
| 3. | logic the property of a statement of being classified under one of the concepts studied by modal logic, esp necessity or possibility |
| 4. | any physical or electrical therapeutic method or agency |
| 5. | any of the five senses |
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modality
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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modality
in logic, the classification of logical propositions according to their asserting or denying the possibility, impossibility, contingency, or necessity of their content. Modal logic, which studies the logical features of such concepts, originated with Aristotle, was extensively studied by logicians in antiquity and the European Middle Ages, and, for the most part, was neglected after the Renaissance until revived in modern mathematical logic. The basic statement on this subject, presupposed in most contemporary discussions, is by C.I. Lewis and Cooper Harold Langford in Symbolic Logic (1932), which develops a modal system of "strict implication" for interpreting the logical force of "if . . . then."
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