| Part of Speech | Definition | |
| Adverb | 1. In a modal manner.[Websters]
2. In a conditional or nominal manner. [Eve - graph theoretic] 3. In a formal or official manner. [Eve - graph theoretic] 4. Rarely used adverbial inflection of the adjective modal.[Eve - graph theoretic] | |
| Adjective Form (modal) | 1. Relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a distribution; "the modal age at which American novelists reach their peak is 30".[Wordnet]. 2. Of or relating to a musical mode; especially written in an ecclesiastical mode.[Wordnet]. 3. Relating to or expressing the mood of a verb; "modal auxiliary".[Wordnet]. 4. Of or pertaining to a mode or mood; consisting in mode or form only; relating to form; having the form without the essence or reality.[Websters]. 5. Indicating, or pertaining to, some mode of conceiving existence, or of expressing thought.[Websters]. 6. Being conditional or qualified.[Eve - graph theoretic] 7. Being adventitious or contingent.[Eve - graph theoretic] 8. Being average or moderate.[Eve - graph theoretic] 9. Being formal, official or ceremonial.[Eve - graph theoretic] 10. Adjective base of the adverb modally.[Eve - graph theoretic] | |
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), compiled from various sources, under license. | Top | |
"MODALLY" is a common misspelling or typo for: morally. |
Date "MODALLY" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1914. (references) |
Specialty Definition: modal
| Domain | Definition | ||
| Computing | 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) Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing. | ||
| Noah Webster | [Adjective] Consisting in mode only; relating to form; having the form without the essence or reality; as the modal diversity of the faculties of the soul.. Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary. | ||
| Geography | Modal is geographically located in Indonesia. Its features include a populated place (a city, town, village, or other agglomeration of buildings where people live and work). Its geographic coordinates are 4.117222 degrees South latitude and 121.677222 degrees East longitude. (references) | ||
| Industry | Regenerated cellulose fiber obtained by processes giving a high tenacity and a high wet modulus. Source: European Union. (references) | ||
| Wiktionary | 1: [Adjective] (computer science) requiring immediate user interaction (often used as modal dialog or modal window). (references) | 2: [Adjective] (grammar) of, relating to, or describing the mood of a clause. (references) | 3: [Adjective] (logic) of, or relating to modality. (references) | 4: [Adjective] (music) of, relating to, or composed in the moods of medieval ecclesiastical music. (references) | 5: [Adjective] of, or relating to a mode. (references) | 6: [Noun] A modal auxiliary. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
Common Expressions: modal
| Expressions | Definition | ||
| Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes | Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes are a band from the Star Wars universe most notable as the band playing in the cantina in A New Hope. In the Expanded Universe, the members are identified as Bith. (references) | ||
| German modal particle | German modal particles (Modalpartikel) are modal particles in German. (references) | ||
| Holy Modal Rounders | The Holy Modal Rounders were a folk music duo from the Lower East Side started in the early 1960s, consisting of Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber. (references) | ||
| Modal (textile) | Modal® is a bio-based fiber made by spinning reconstituted cellulose from beech trees. It is about 50% more hygroscopic, or water-absorbent, per unit volume than cotton is. It is designed to dye just like cotton, and is color-fast when washed in warm water. (references) | ||
| Modal auxiliary | An auxiliary verb (such as `can' or `will') that is used to express modality. Source: Wordnet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. | ||
| Modal auxiliary verb | An auxiliary verb (such as `can' or `will') that is used to express modality. Source: Wordnet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. | ||
| Modal auxiliary verb | In the English language, a modal auxiliary verb is an auxiliary verb (or helping verb) that can modify the grammatical mood (or mode) of a verb. The key way to identify a modal auxiliary is by its defectiveness; the modal auxiliaries do not have participles or infinitives. (references) | ||
| Modal frame (music) | In music a melodic mode (van der Merwe 1989, p.102-103) or modal frame is one of a number of types permeating and unifying African, European, and American song and melody (Middleton 1990, p.203) including parlour music. Mode and frame are used in this context interchangeably. Melodic modes allow melodies which are not chord-based or determined by the harmony but instead by melodic features. A note frame is a melodic mode that is atonic (without a tonic) or has an unstable tonic. (references) | ||
| Modal logic | 1: A system of logic whose formal properties resemble certain moral and epistemological concepts. Source: Wordnet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. | ||
| 2: The logical study of necessity and possibility. Source: Wordnet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. | |||
| Modal logic | A modal logic, or (less commonly) intensional logic, is a logic that deals with sentences that are qualified by modalities such as can, could, might, may, must, possibly, necessarily, eventually, etc. Modal logics are characterized by semantic intensionality: the truth value of a complex formula cannot be determined by the truth values of its subformulae. A logic that instead allows this determination is called extensional; classical logic is for example extensional. Modal operators cannot be formalized by an extensional semantics: both "George W. Bush is President of the United States" and "2 + 2 = 4" are true, yet "Necessarily, George W. Bush is President of the United States" is false, while "Necessarily, 2 + 2 = 4" is true. (references) | ||
| Modal realism | Modal realism is the view, notably propounded by David Lewis, that possible worlds are as real as the actual world. It is based on the following notions: that possible worlds exist; possible worlds are not different in kind to the actual world; possible worlds are irreducible entities; the term 'actual' in 'actual world' is indexical. (references) | ||
| Modal testing | Modal testing is a form of vibration testing of an object where fundamental frequencies of the object under test is determined. (references) | ||
| Modal value | The most frequent value of a random variable. Source: Wordnet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. | ||
| Modal verb | An auxiliary verb (such as `can' or `will') that is used to express modality. Source: Wordnet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. | ||
| Modal window | In user interface design, a modal window (often called modal dialog because the window is almost always used to display a dialog) is a child window created by a parent application, usually a dialog box, which has to be closed before the user can continue to operate the application. Modal windows are frequently an element of MDI applications. One of their purposes is to prevent the software from being operated in an ambiguous state. For example, a spreadsheet program might ask the user whether he wants to delete a specific cell or row. If the user manually moved this row around while the dialog was still open, and then answered the question with a yes, he might not be sure what to expect: Whether the new row or the old row will be deleted, or possibly none at all because of an addressing error. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
Specialty Expressions: modal
| Expressions | Domain | Definition | |
| Legacy, modal | Law | LEGACY, MODAL. A modal legacy is a bequest accompanied with directions as to the mode in which it should be applied for the legatee's benefit; for example, a legacy to Titius to put him an apprentice. 2 Vern. 431; Lownd. Leg. 151. (references) | |
| Modal dispersion | Business | Incorrect synonym for multimode distortion. (references) | |
| Modal distortion | Business | Synonym multimode distortion. (references) | |
| Modal distribution | Business | In an optical waveguide operating at a given wavelength, the number of modes supported, and their propagation time differences. (references) | |
| Modal employee | Public Administration | Sole earner, married to a spouse who is not employed outside the home and with two children aged 6-12. Source: European Union. (references) | |
| Modal grade | Census | (see school, modal grade). (references) | |
| Modal logic | Computing | An extension of propositional calculus with operators that express various "modes" of truth. Examples of modes are: necessarily A, possibly A, probably A, it has always been true that A, it is permissible that A, it is believed that A. "It is necessarily true that A" means that things being as they are, A must be true, e.g. "It is necessarily true that x=x" is TRUE while "It is necessarily true that x=y" is FALSE even though "x=y" might be TRUE. Adding modal operators [F] and [P], meaning, respectively, henceforth and hitherto leads to a "temporal logic". Flavours of modal logics include: Propositional Dynamic Logic (PDL), Propositional Linear Temporal Logic (PLTL), Linear Temporal Logic (LTL), Computational Tree Logic (CTL), Hennessy-Milner Logic, S1-S5, T. C.I. Lewis, "A Survey of Symbolic Logic", 1918, initiated the modern analysis of modality. He developed the logical systems S1-S5. JCC McKinsey used algebraic methods ( Boolean algebras with operators) to prove the decidability of Lewis' S2 and S4 in 1941. Saul Kripke developed the relational semantics for modal logics (1959, 1963). Vaughan Pratt introduced dynamic logic in 1976. Amir Pnuelli proposed the use of temporal logic to formalise the behaviour of continually operating concurrent programs in 1977. [Robert Goldblatt, "Logics of Time and Computation", CSLI Lecture Notes No. 7, Centre for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University, Second Edition, 1992, (distributed by University of Chicago Press)]. [Robert Goldblatt, "Mathematics of Modality", CSLI Lecture Notes No. 43, Centre for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University, 1993, (distributed by University of Chicago Press)]. [G.E. Hughes and M.J. Cresswell, "An Introduction to Modal Logic", Methuen, 1968]. [E.J. Lemmon (with Dana Scott), "An Introduction to Modal Logic", American Philosophical Quarterly Monograpph Series, no. 11 (ed. by Krister Segerberg), Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1977]. (1995-02-15). Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing.. | |
| Modal loss | Business | In an open waveguide, such as an optical fiber, a loss of energy on the part of an electromagnetic wave due to obstacles outside the waveguide, abrupt changes in direction of the waveguide, or other anomalies, that cause changes in the propagation mode of the wave in the waveguide. (references) | |
| Modal noise | Business | Noise generated in an optical fiber system by the combination of mode-dependent optical losses and fluctuation in the distribution of optical energy among the guided modes or in the relative phases of the guided modes. Synonym speckle noise. (references) | |
| Modal numbers | Electrical Engineering | A set of integers by which the normal modes of a system are ordered. Source: European Union. (references) | |
| Modal share | Energy | The percentage of total freight moved by a particular type of transportation. (references) | |
| Modal split | Energy | 1) The proportion of total person trips that uses each of various specified modes of transportation. 2) The process of separating total person trips into the modes of travel used. 3) A term that describes how many people use alternative forms of transportation. It is frequently used to describe the percentage of people who use private automobiles, as opposed to the percentage who user public transportation. (references) | |
| Modal switch | Transportation | A change between two modes of transport, e. g. from road travel to rail travel. Source: European Union. (references) | |
| Modal transfer | Transportation | The change observed in the modal split over a period of time, in which the part played by some modes of transport is substantially increased at the expense of others; such a change can occur spontaneously or can be induced through various types of measures, either forcibly restraining the use of a given mode, or introducing opportunities or incentives to the use of another. Source: European Union. (references) | |
| Modal window | Aerospace | A window with which a user must interact before being able to interact with any other windows. A user cannot interact with other windows as long as the modal window is displayed. (references) | |
| School, Modal grade | Census | Enrolled people are classified according to their relative progress in school: that is, whether the grade or year in which they were enrolled was below, at, or above the modal (or typical) grade for people of their age at the time of the survey. The modal grade is the year of school in which the largest proportion of students of a given age is enrolled. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
