Modification

//ˌmɑdɪfɪˈkeɪʃən// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of assessing and prescribing a payment, penalty, price, valuation, etc. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "Wherein his highnes commandement is, that a graue, wiſe, ⁊ ſage man, ſhalbe appointed pꝛeſident, who may haue yͤ ouerſight of theſe boũds, ⁊ be anſwerable therefoꝛe to the biſhop, his coũſell ⁊ ſynode, ⁊ he to be reſpected reaſonably foꝛ his paines, at the modification of ſtipends: […]"

  2. 2
    the act of making something different (as e.g. the size of a garment) wordnet
  3. 3
    The form of existence belonging to a particular object, entity etc.; a mode of being. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "Pleasure is the business of woman's life, according to the present modification of society […]"

  4. 4
    slightly modified copy; not an exact copy wordnet
  5. 5
    The change undergone by a word when used in a construction. countable, uncountable
Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another wordnet
  2. 7
    The result of modifying something; a new or changed form. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    the grammatical relation that exists when a word qualifies the meaning of the phrase wordnet
  4. 9
    The act of making a change to something while keeping its essential character intact; an alteration or adjustment. countable, uncountable

    "behavior modification officer"

  5. 10
    A change to an organism as a result of its environment that is not transmissable to offspring. countable, uncountable

    "Due to his sunbathing, Jim's body experienced modifications: he got a tan."

  6. 11
    A change to a word when it is borrowed by another language. countable, uncountable

    "The Chinese word kòutóu had a modification made to become the English kowtow."

Synonyms

All synonyms
alterationchangeabout faceabout-faceaccidentaccommodation

Example

More examples

"Through genetic modification, we can improve crops."

Etymology

From Middle English modificatioune, from Middle French modification and its etymon Latin modificātiō (“a measuring”), from modificāre (“to limit, control, modify”); see modify. By surface analysis, modify + -ication.

Related phrases

Charette modificationDoebner modificationFurukawa modificationbody modificationgenetic modificationmodification enzymepost-translational modificationposttranslational modification

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