From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmodalmo‧dal1 /ˈməʊdl $ ˈmoʊdl/ noun [countable] SLGa modal verb
Examples from the Corpus
modal• There are no stylistic flourishes, such as departures from the basic syntax through the use of modals, questions and negatives.• Where do evokes the infinitive as a reality, the modals evoke it as a potentiality.• Infinitival usage after how and why thus confirms our analysis of the way the modals are put into relation with the infinitive.modalmodal2 adjective technical 1 [only before noun] modal meanings are concerned with the attitude of the speaker to the hearer or to what is being said2 APMrelated to or written in a musical mode(5) —modality /məʊˈdæləti $ moʊ-/ noun [uncountable]Examples from the Corpus
modal• A 10% fall in seven author papers occurred during 1989-91 when the modal author number rose to 6.• The different modal authorship numbers could explain why this was not seen.• On a size frequency histogram the size class in which the greatest percentage of grains is represented provides the modal class.• Working in pairs the students readily found contexts in which some of the modal forms are used, but not all.• The emperor is confronted with the case of a modal legacy, the modus being restitution of some property to another individual.• Others introduce Gregorian or modal material on high days and special occasions.• The expression of modal meanings can take quite a different form in each language.• On the size frequency distribution plot the highest point on the curve provides the modal value.Origin modal2 (1500-1600) Medieval Latin modalis, from Latin modus; → MODE 