MODAL • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Modal

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/mˈoʊdəl/ Listen

adjective

Modal adj.

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.

(Logic & Metaph.) Indicating, or pertaining to, some mode of conceiving existence, or of expressing thought, such as the modes of possibility or obligation.

(Gram.) Pertaining to or denoting mood.

noun

Modal n. (Gram.), A modal auxiliary.

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Etymology of 'Modal'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Modal" Quotes from Famous Books

... (characterized by precision, clarity, and completeness of self-contained utterances) is typical in cultures which value logic, objectivity, individualism, and competition; by contrast, high-context communication (elliptical, emotive, nuance-filled, multi-modal, heavily coded) is associated with cultures which value subjectivity, consensus, cooperation, and tradition. What then are we to make of hackerdom, which is themed around extremely low-context interaction with computers and exhibits primarily "low-context" values, but cultivates ...

— THE JARGON FILE, VERSION 2.9.10

... principle which answers in a general way to the law of continuity in the inorganic world, or rather is so analogous to it that both may fairly be expressed by the Leibnitzian axiom, Natura non agit saltatim. As an axiom or philosophical principle, used to test modal laws or hypotheses, this in strictness belongs only to physics. In the investigation of Nature at large, at least in the organic world, nobody would undertake to apply this principle as a test of the validity of any theory or supposed law. But ...

— Atlantic Monthly Volume 6, No. 34, August, 1860 • Various

... vice chancellor, fighting desperately to stay awake after drinking too much wine during the luncheon and afterward. And Modal, sitting on the couch next to him, was bright-eyed and alert, thinking only of how much money and power would come to him as Chief of Industries once the rearmament program ...

— The Dueling Machine • Benjamin William Bova