modal

modal

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈməʊd.əl/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊd.əl/
• 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.

   Antonym: modeless

7. (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, archived from the original on February 7, 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

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

Synonyms

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.

• forming
• conditioning

Derived terms

Terms derived from modal

• antimodal
• modality
• modally
• quasimodal
• submodal
• unimodal

 

Related terms

Terms related to modal

• modal auxiliary
• modal logic
• modal particle
• mode
• model
• modeler
• moderate
• moderation
• moderator
• module
• modulus
• mood

 

Translations

of or relating to a mode or modus

Dutch: modaal (nl), modus- Finnish: modaalinen (fi) German: modal (de) Serbo-Croatian: načinski (sh), načinovni Turkish: kipsel

of, relating to, or describing the mood of a clause

Dutch: modaal (nl) Finnish: modaalinen (fi) French: modal (fr) German: modal (de) Hungarian: modális, módbeli Polish: modalny m Russian: мода́льный (ru) (modálʹnyj)

music: of, relating to, or composed in the musical modi by which an octave is divided

Dutch: modaal (nl), modus- Finnish: modaalinen (fi) Hungarian: modális Russian: ла́довый (ru) (ládovyj)

logic: of or relating to the modality between prepositions

Dutch: modaal (nl) Finnish: modaalinen (fi) Hungarian: modális Russian: мода́льный (ru) (modálʹnyj) Tagalog: palasakin

relating to the statistical mode

Dutch: modaal (nl), modus-

requiring immediate computer user interaction

Chinese: Mandarin: (please verify) 有模式 (yǒumóshì) Dutch: modaal (nl) Finnish: modaalinen (fi) German: modal (de) Hungarian: modális Russian: мода́льный (ru) (modálʹnyj) Spanish: modal

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: (please verify) modal (fr) German: (please verify) modal (de) Spanish: (please verify) modal

Noun

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, 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 proposition

Dutch: modale propositie

modal form, notably a modal auxiliary

Dutch: modale vorm Turkish: kip (tr)

modal verb — see modal verb

See also

• semimodal

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

• Dolma, MOALD, dolma, domal

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin modālis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /moˈdal/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /muˈdal/

Adjective

modal (masculine and feminine plural modals)

1. modal

Derived terms

• modalitat
• verb modal

Related terms

• mode

Further reading

• “modal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.dal/

• Audio (Belgium)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

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

1. modal

Derived terms

• modalité
• amodal

Noun

modal m (plural modaux)

1. a modal verb

Further reading

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

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German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /moˈdaːl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

modal (strong nominative masculine singular modaler, not comparable)

1. modal

Declension

Positive forms of modal (uncomparable)

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

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Indonesian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

modal (first-person possessive modalku, second-person possessive modalmu, third-person possessive modalnya)

1. capital,
   1. money and wealth. The means to acquire goods and services, especially in a non-barter system.
   2. (figuratively) goods available for use as a factor of production, such as steam shovels (equipment) and office buildings (structures).

Derived terms

derived terms

• bermodal
• bermodalkan
• memodali
• pemodal
• pemodalan
• permodalan

 

compounds

• kaum modal
• modal asing
• modal bergerak
• modal campuran
• modal dasar
• modal dengkul
• modal dusta
• modal ekuitas
• modal kerja
• modal manusiawi
• modal patungan
• modal swasta
• modal tetap
• modal tetap masyarakat
• modal uang
• modal usaha
• modal utama
• modal ventura

 

References

1. Comprehensive Indonesian-English Dictionary, Ohio University Press, 2010, page 639

Further reading

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

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /moˈdaw/ [moˈdaʊ̯]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /muˈdal/ [muˈðaɫ]

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

Adjective

modal m or f (plural modais, not comparable)

1. modal (all senses)

Derived terms

• modalmente

Noun

modal m (plural modais)

1. method of transportation

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Romanian

Etymology

From French modal.

Adjective

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

1. modal

Declension

Declension of modal

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	modal		modală	modali	modale
	definite	modalul		modala	modalii	modalele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	modal		modale	modali	modale
	definite	modalului		modalei	modalilor	modalelor

---

Spanish

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

modal (plural modales)

1. modal

Related terms

• modales
• modalidad

 

Further reading

• “modal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014