modal

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.

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

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

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

• 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.
• “modal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• Dolma, MOALD, dolma, domal

Borrowed from Latin modālis.

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

modal m or f (masculine and feminine plural modals)

1. modal

• modalitat
• verb modal

• mode

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

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

• “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 (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).

• “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, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

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)