MODAL | English Meaning, Definition, and Pronunciation

mid 16th century (in modal (sense 5 of the adjective)): from medieval Latin modalis, from Latin modus (see mode)

relating to mode or form as opposed to substance

relating to mode or form not substance

• this will see faster journey times and greater frequency, stimulating accelerated modal shift from the car to the bus

relating to a value that occurs most frequently in a given set of data

relating to value occurring most frequently in set of data

• patients aged from 2 days to 23 months (modal age group 0–3 months)

of or denoting the mood of a verb.

denoting mood of verb

of or denoting music using melodies or harmonies based on modes other than the ordinary major and minor scales

denoting music based on modes other than ordinary major and minor scales

• in the medieval period music became less modal and more tonal
• the best-known 20th century Requiem, full of modal harmonies and effortless polyphony

(of a proposition) in which the predicate is affirmed of the subject with some qualification, or which involves the affirmation of possibility, impossibility, necessity, or contingency

(of proposition) in which predicate is affirmed of subject with qualification

• his world-leading research in modal logic and category theory

a modal word or construction.

modal word or construction