modal

From Middle French modal, from Medieval Latin modālis (“pertaining to a mode”), from Latin modus (“mode”). Compare to French, Spanish, and Portuguese modal and Italian modale. By surface analysis, mod(e) +‎ -al.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊdəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊdəl/

  • Audio (Texas):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈməʉdəl/
• Rhymes: -əʊdəl

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. (of music, by extension) In a mode which is not major or minor scale, the standard modes used in the Western musical tradition.
5. (logic) Of, or relating to the modality between propositions.
6. (statistics) Relating to the statistical mode.
7. (computing) Having separate modes in which user input has different effects.

   Antonym: modeless

8. (graphical user interface) Requiring immediate user interaction and thus presented so that it cannot be closed or interacted behind until a decision is made.
   • a. 2011, “Dialog Windows”, in Qt Widgets Documentation‎^[1], archived from the original on 7 February 2020:

     Dialogs can be modal, in which case the user is required to provide necessary information before work in the main window can continue, or modeless. Modeless dialogs do not prevent the user from interacting with any of the other windows in the application.

   a modal dialog; a modal window

   Antonym: modeless

9. (metaphysics) Relating to the form of a thing rather to any of its attributes.

• forming
• conditioning

modal (plural modals)

1. (logic) A modal proposition.
2. (linguistics) A modal form, notably a modal auxiliary.
3. (grammar) A 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, numbers 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.

• semimodal

• “modal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “modal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

A genericized trademark of Lenzing AG.

modal (uncountable)

1. (fabric) A semi-synthetic fabric, a very soft kind of rayon textile made from beech tree pulp and processed with chemicals.

• MOALD, Dolma, molad, dolma, domal

Borrowed from Latin modālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [muˈðal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [moˈðal]

modal m or f (masculine and feminine plural modals)

1. modal

• modalitat
• verb modal

• mode

• “modal”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

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

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.dal/

• Audio (Belgium):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

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

1. modal

• modalité
• amodal

modal m (plural modaux)

1. a modal verb
2. (fabric) modal textile

   cf modal (textile)

• “modal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• IPA^(key): /moˈdaːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

modal (strong nominative masculine singular modaler, not comparable)

1. modal

From Malay modal, from Tamil முதல் (mutal, “principal, fund, capital, money yielding interest”).^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈmo.d̪al]
• Hyphenation: mo‧dal

modal (plural modal-modal)

1. capital (the means to acquire goods and services)
2. (figuratively) capital (goods available for use as a factor of production, such as steam shovels and office buildings)

• “modal” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: mo‧dal

modal m or f (plural modais, not comparable)

1. modal (all senses)

• modalmente

modal m (plural modais)

1. method of transportation

Borrowed from French modal.

modal m or n (feminine singular modală, masculine plural modali, feminine and neuter plural modale)

1. modal

• IPA^(key): /moˈdal/ [moˈð̞al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: mo‧dal

modal m or f (masculine and feminine plural modales)

1. modal

• “modal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

modal (not comparable)

1. (grammar) modal

• modalt hjälpverb (“modal verb, modal auxiliary”)

• modal in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• modal in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• modal in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)