modal

English

Etymology

From Middle French modal, from Medieval Latin modalis (“pertaining to a mode”), from Latin modus (“mode”); see mode. Compare to French, Spanish and Portuguese modal and Italian modale.

Pronunciation
  • Rhymes: -əʊdəl

Adjective

modal (comparative more modal, superlative most modal)

  1. of, or relating to a mode or modus
  2. (grammar) of, relating to, or describing the mood of a clause
  3. (music) of, relating to, or composed in the musical modi by which an octave is divided, associated with emotional moods in Ancient — and in medieval ecclesiastical music
  4. (logic) of, or relating to the modality between propositions
  5. (statistics) relating to the statistical mode.
  6. (computing) Having separate modes in which user input has different effects.
  7. (graphical user interface) Requiring immediate user interaction and thus presented so that it cannot be closed until a decision is made.
    a modal dialog; a modal window
  8. (metaphysics) Relating to the form of a thing rather to any of its attributes

Synonyms
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Derived terms
Terms derived from modal
Terms related to modal

Translations
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Noun

modal (plural modals)

  1. (logic) A modal proposition
  2. (linguistics) A modal form, notably a modal auxiliary.
  3. (grammar) modal verb
    • 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational Grammar: A First Course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 61:
      Using the same type of distributional criterion, we could argue that only a Verb (in its base form) can occur in the position marked — in (23) below to complete the sentence:
      (23)     They/it can —
      [...]
      Conversely, the only type of word which could be used to begin a three-word sentence such as (25) below:
      (25)     — I be frank?
      is a Modal: cf. [...]
  4. (graphical user interface) A modal window, one that cannot be closed until a decision is made.
    • 1996, OOPSLA '96: Conference on Object-Oriented Programming Systems, Languages, and Applications (volume 31, issues 10-12)
      Modal screen elements are subtrees which, when activated, disable all elements external to them. Examples of modals are yes-no message boxes and the application itself.

Translations
modal verb — see modal verb

See also

Further reading
  • modal in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
  • modal in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

French

Etymology

From Medieval Latin modalis, from Latin modus 'mode'.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /mɔ.dal/
  • Audio (Belgium)(file)
  • Audio(file)

Adjective

modal (feminine singular modale, masculine plural modaux, feminine plural modales)

  1. modal

Derived terms

Noun

modal m (plural modaux)

  1. a modal verb

Further reading

German

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /moˈdaːl/
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

modal (not comparable)

  1. modal

Declension
Declension of modal
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter all genders
predicative er ist modal sie ist modal es ist modal sie sind modal
strong declension
(without article)		 nominative modaler modale modales modale
genitive modalen modaler modalen modaler
dative modalem modaler modalem modalen
accusative modalen modale modales modale
weak declension
(with definite article)		 nominative der modale die modale das modale die modalen
genitive des modalen der modalen des modalen der modalen
dative dem modalen der modalen dem modalen den modalen
accusative den modalen die modale das modale die modalen
mixed declension
(with indefinite article)		 nominative ein modaler eine modale ein modales (keine) modalen
genitive eines modalen einer modalen eines modalen (keiner) modalen
dative einem modalen einer modalen einem modalen (keinen) modalen
accusative einen modalen eine modale ein modales (keine) modalen

Portuguese

Adjective

modal m or f (plural modais, comparable)

  1. modal (all senses)

Spanish

Adjective

modal (plural modales)

  1. modal
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