Modality

noun

noun ·4 syllables ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The fact of being modal. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    a method of therapy that involves physical or electrical therapeutic treatment wordnet
  3. 3
    The classification of propositions on the basis on whether they claim possibility, impossibility, contingency or necessity; mode. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    a particular sense wordnet
  5. 5
    The inflection of a verb that shows how its action is conceived by the speaker. countable, uncountable
Show 10 more definitions
  1. 6
    verb inflections that express how the action or state is conceived by the speaker wordnet
  2. 7
    A method of diagnosis or therapy. countable, uncountable

    "If a port-wine stain has been treated with another modality, such as the argon, CO2, or KTP laser, electrocautery, radiation, or tattooing, FPDL treatment may provide less lightening and improvement."

  3. 8
    a classification of propositions on the basis of whether they claim necessity or possibility or impossibility wordnet
  4. 9
    Any of the senses (such as sight or taste) countable, uncountable
  5. 10
    A particular way in which the information is to be encoded for presentation to humans, i.e. to the type of sign and to the status of reality ascribed to or claimed by a sign, text or genre. countable, uncountable
  6. 11
    The organization and structure of the church, as distinct from sodality or parachurch organizations. countable, uncountable
  7. 12
    The subject concerning certain diatonic scales known as musical modes. countable, uncountable
  8. 13
    The way in which infrastructure and knowledge of how to use it give rise to a meaningful pattern of interaction (a concept in Anthony Giddens's structuration theory). countable, uncountable

    "Thus, the University budgeting system can be seen not only as modality in the reproduction of social structures, but also as an important means of meeting deeply rooted psychological needs for ontological security."

  9. 14
    The quality of being limited by a condition. countable, uncountable
  10. 15
    That whether a zodiac sign is cardinal, fixed or mutable countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
moodaesthetic formarchetypeart formbearingsbuild

Example

More examples

"Raumschach (in German, "space chess") is a modality of chess invented in 1907 by Ferdinand Maack. It adds a third dimension to the board."

Etymology

From French modalité.

Related phrases

diatonic scale

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.