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modal

Pronunciation: /ˈməʊdəl/

The English word “modal” has 14 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Of, or relating to a mode or modus.
  2. Of, relating to, or describing the mood of a clause.
  3. 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. In a mode which is not major or minor scale, the standard modes used in the Western musical tradition.
  5. Of, or relating to the modality between propositions.
  6. Relating to the statistical mode.
  7. Having separate modes in which user input has different effects.
  8. Requiring immediate user interaction and thus presented so that it cannot be closed or interacted behind until a decision is made.
  9. Relating to the form of a thing rather to any of its attributes.

noun

  1. A modal (etymology 1, adjective sense 4) proposition.
  2. A modal (etymology 1, adjective sense 2) form, notably a modal auxiliary.
  3. A modal verb.
  4. A modal (etymology 1, adjective sense 7) window, one that cannot be closed until a decision is made.
  5. A semi-synthetic fabric, a very soft kind of rayon textile made from beech tree pulp and processed with chemicals.

Etymology

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.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.