Dictionary
Find
in
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Translations

Click to move up the list of words
mocha
mochaccino
Moche
mochi
Mochica
mock
mock-heroic
mock interview
mock moon
mock orange
mock sun
mock turtle
mock turtle soup
mock up
mock-up
mockernut
mockery
Click to move down the list of words
Print Preview
See pronunciation key
Search for "modal" in all of MSN Encarta
E-mail this entry
Blog about this entry on MSN Spaces
Download the MSN Encarta Right-Click Dictionary

modal

mo·dal [ mṓd'l ]


adjective 
Definition:
 
1. grammar expressing grammatical mood: used to describe verbs and auxiliary verbs expressing a grammatical mood such as possibility or necessity.
See also  modal auxiliary


2. music relating to musical modes: relating to or using a mode, especially instead of a major or minor scale

3. logic describing logical modalities: describes propositions involving necessity or probability, or those relating to knowledge, belief, and obligation



noun  (plural mo·dals)
Definition:
 
grammar 
Same as  modal auxiliary


[Mid-16th century. Directly or via French< medieval Latin modalis< Latin modus "measure"]

mo·dal·ly adverb
Englishtown: Learn English online
Encarta Message Boards (© Rubberball/Jupiterimages)
Upgrade your Encarta experience
Encarta RSS Feeds
© 2008 Microsoft