MODAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does modal mean? 

• MODAL (noun)
  The noun MODAL has 1 sense:

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

  Familiarity information: MODAL used as a noun is very rare.

• MODAL (adjective)
  The adjective MODAL has 3 senses:

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

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

3. relating to or expressing the mood of a verb

  Familiarity information: MODAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MODAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An auxiliary verb (such as 'can' or 'will') that is used to express modality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

modal; modal auxiliary; modal auxiliary verb; modal verb

Hypernyms ("modal" is a kind of...):

auxiliary verb (a verb that combines with another verb in a verb phrase to help form tense, mood, voice, or condition of the verb it combines with)

• MODAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a distribution

Synonyms:

average; modal

Context example:

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

Similar:

normal (conforming with or constituting a norm or standard or level or type or social norm; not abnormal)

Domain category:

statistics (a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters)

Derivation:

mode (the most frequent value of a random variable)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or relating to a musical mode; especially written in an ecclesiastical mode

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Pertainym:

mode (any of various fixed orders of the various diatonic notes within an octave)

Derivation:

mode (any of various fixed orders of the various diatonic notes within an octave)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Relating to or expressing the mood of a verb

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

modal auxiliary

Pertainym:

mode (verb inflections that express how the action or state is conceived by the speaker)

Derivation:

modality; mode (verb inflections that express how the action or state is conceived by the speaker)

 Context examples 

Using modal effective mass theory, the team conceptualized the dinosaur's body as a series of springs and other components, first as a computer model and then as a physical robot.

(Scientific study suggests dinosaurs flapped their wings as they ran, Wikinews)