modal

adj.

1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a mode.
2. Grammar. Of, relating to, or expressing the mood of a verb.
3. Music. Of, relating to, characteristic of, or composed in any of the modes typical of medieval church music.
4. Philosophy. Of or relating to mode without referring to substance.
5. Logic. Expressing or characterized by modality.
6. Statistics. Of or relating to a statistical mode or modes.

n.
See modal auxiliary.

[Medieval Latin modālis, from Latin modus, measure.]

modally mod'al·ly adv.

Term for music based on a mode rather than a major or minor scale. In the Western tradition it applies particularly to music using the church modes of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (and music imitating them, such as the movement of Beethoven's String Quartet in A minor op.132 in the Lydian mode) and to works that draw on folk music elements, for example Mozart's ‘Moorish Song’ for Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Schumann's Fünf Stücke im Volkston for cello and piano, much music by Russian nationalist composers (e.g.in Glinka's Ivan Susanin or Musorgsky's Boris Godunov) and by such composers as Vaughan Williams and Bartók. An effect of modality may also be provided by unorthodox scales, such as the one used in Verdi's Ave Maria and the whole-tone scale of Debussy, though in fact neither of these is in a real sense modal. See Mode.

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Pertaining to modes.

IN BRIEF: adj. - Relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a distribution; Relating to or expressing the mood of a verb; Of or relating to a musical form.

Tutor's tip: With the "model," (a small object, usually built to scale, that represents in detail another, often larger object) transportation city planners were able to devise modal (of or relating to mode without referring to substance) transportation system.

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - mådes-, modal-, modus-
n. - modal

Nederlands (Dutch)
modaal, modale vorm/ propositie

Français (French)
adj. - (Ling, Mus, etc) modal
n. - (auxiliaire) modal

Deutsch (German)
adj. - modal
n. - Modalsatz

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - ανήκων ή αναφερόμενος στον τρόπο, τροπικός, (γραμμ.) εγκλιτικός
n. - (γραμμ.) βοηθητικό ρήμα

Italiano (Italian)
modale

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - modal
n. - verbo modal (m)

Русский (Russian)
модальный, обусловленный, относящийся к форме, а не к существу

Español (Spanish)
adj. - modal, de modo
n. - modal

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - modal, formell
n. - modal

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
形态上的, 程序的, 形式的, 语气的, 典型, 形式

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 形態上的, 程式的, 形式的, 語氣的
n. - 典型, 形式

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 형식의, 양상의
n. - 형식, 양상

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 様式の, 様相の, 旋法の, 並数の, 音階の

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) نمطي, شكلي (الاسم) شكل, نمط‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮של אופן או דרך, שכיח מאד במדגם אוכלוסיה, מציין את הדרך של פועל מסוים (דקדוק), (משפט) שהנשוא מאשר בו את נחיצות או אפשרות הנושא (לוגיקה)‬
n. - ‮פועל עזר להבעת הדרך של פועל אחר‬

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