modal — English Dictionary

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. 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. In a mode which is not major or minor scale, the standard modes used in the Western musical tradition.

   Usage

   • broadly
   • of music

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.

   Antonyms

   modeless

8. Requiring immediate user interaction and thus presented so that it cannot be closed or interacted behind until a decision is made.

   Antonyms

   modeless

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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

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.

   Examples

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   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. A modal (etymology 1, adjective sense 7) window, one that cannot be closed until a decision is made.

   Examples

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   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.

Noun

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

   Usage

   • Uncountable

Adjective

1. relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a distribution

   Synonyms

   average

   Examples

   the modal age at which American novelists reach their peak is 30

2. of or relating to a musical mode; especially written in an ecclesiastical mode

3. relating to or expressing the mood of a verb

   Examples

   modal auxiliary

Noun

1. an auxiliary verb (such as ‘can’ or ‘will’) that is used to express modality

   Synonyms

   modal auxiliary verbmodal auxiliarymodal verb

   Broader terms

   auxiliary verb