module

Borrowed from French module, from Latin modulus (“a small measure, a measure, mode, meter”), diminutive of modus (“measure”) (whence mode). Doublet of modulus and mold.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒdjuːl/, /ˈmɒd͡ʒuːl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑd͡ʒul/
• Rhymes: -ɒdjuːl, -ɒdʒuːl

module (plural modules)

1. A self-contained component of a system, often interchangeable, which has a well-defined interface to the other components.
   • 2025 February 11, Joshua Stylman, “How to Forge the Spectator Class”, in Brownstone Journal‎^[1]:

     A friend who’s spent decades as an auto mechanic recently confided that he’s grateful to be nearing retirement. “These Teslas,” he told me, “they’re not even cars anymore – they’re computers on wheels. When something goes wrong, you don’t fix it; you just replace entire modules.” What was once a craft that any dedicated person could learn has become an exercise in supervised dependency.

2. (architecture) A standard unit of measure used for determining the proportions of a building.
3. (programming) A section of a program; a subroutine or group of subroutines.
   • 2001, Phil Jones, Visual Basic: A Complete Course, page 254:

     Class modules are similar to form modules except they do not have a visible interface (GUI).

   • 2013, Helmut Reimer, Norbert Pohlmann, Wolfgang Schneider, ISSE 2013 Securing Electronic Business Processes, page 244:

     When there is more than one protected module in memory, the rules for accessing the code and data sections of a given module treat all the other modules as if they were unprotected memory.

4. A unit of education covering a single topic.

   Which modules are you studying next year?

5. A pre-prepared adventure scenario with related materials for a role-playing game.
   • 2011, Michael J. Tresca, The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games, page 81:

     Dragonborn […] first appeared in the Dragons of Despair module (1984) for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as “dragonmen.”

6. (algebra, ring theory) An abelian group equipped with the operation of multiplication by an element of a ring (or another of certain algebraic objects), representing a generalisation of the concept of vector space with scalar multiplication.

   Meronym: element

   • 1974, Thomas W. Hungerford, Algebra, Springer, page 168:

     Modules over a ring are a generalization of abelian groups (which are modules over ${\displaystyle \textstyle \mathbb {Z} }$).

   • 2004, Robert R. Colby, Kent R. Fuller, Equivalence and Duality for Module Categories (with Tilting and Cotilting for Rings), Cambridge University Press, page vii:

     Approximately forty-five years ago K. Morita presented the first major results on equivalences and dualities between categories of modules over a pair of rings.

   • 2012, A. A. Kirillov, Elements of the Theory of Representations, Springer, page 29:

     One defines in like manner right K-modules and two-sided K-modules. If K is commutative, then every left K-module is automatically equipped with the structure of right and a two-sided K-module.

7. (fractal geometry, mathematics) A fractal element.
8. (music, computing) A file containing a music sequence that can be played in a tracker (also called mod or music module).
9. (hydraulics) A contrivance for regulating the supply of water from an irrigation channel.
10. (astronautics) An independent self-contained unit of a spacecraft.

• (abelian group equipped with multiplication by an element of a ring):
  • For a given ring R, one speaks of an "R-module" or, equivalently, of a "module over R". R is expected to be unital.
  • R may also be a Lie algebra.
  • If K is a field, "K-module" is identical to "K-vector space".
  • If the ring is not commutative, scalar multiplication of a module is defined as left- and/or right-multiplication, and one refers to a "left R-module" or a "right R-module".
  • The concept of module is closely connected to the representation theory of groups and is central to both commutative algebra and homological algebra. Modules are also widely used in algebraic geometry and algebraic topology.

• (algebraic structure, mathematics): vector space, free module, projective module, injective module
• (astronautics): command module, lunar module

• mode
• model
• moderate
• modulus

• “module”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “module”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• Module in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• moduul

Borrowed from French module. Doublet of modulus and mal.

• IPA^(key): /moːˈdy.lə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ylə

module m (plural modulen or modules)

1. module

• → Indonesian: modul

Borrowed from Latin modulus. Doublet of moule.

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.dyl/

• Audio:

  (file)

module m (plural modules)

1. module

• module d'extension

• → Dutch: module, moduul
  • → Indonesian: modul
• → English: module
• → Romanian: modul
• → Turkish: modül

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

module

1. inflection of modular:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

module

1. vocative singular of modulus

• IPA^(key): /mɔˈdu.lɛ/
• Rhymes: -ulɛ
• Syllabification: mo‧du‧le

module

1. locative/vocative singular of moduł

module

1. inflection of modular:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• IPA^(key): /moˈdu.le/
• Rhymes: -ule
• Hyphenation: mo‧du‧le

module n pl

1. indefinite plural of modul (“module”)

• IPA^(key): /ˈmo.du.le/
• Rhymes: -odule
• Hyphenation: mo‧du‧le

module n

1. vocative singular of mod (“mode”)

module

1. inflection of modular:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative