Modal

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Modal \Mo"dal\, a. [Cf. F. modal. See {Mode}.]
     1. Of or pertaining to a mode or mood; consisting in mode or
        form only; relating to form; having the form without the
        essence or reality. --Glanvill.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. (Logic & Metaph.) Indicating, or pertaining to, some mode
        of conceiving existence, or of expressing thought, such as
        the modes of possibility or obligation.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     3. (Gram.) Pertaining to or denoting mood.
        [PJC]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Modal \Mo"dal\(Gram.), n.
     A modal auxiliary.
     [PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  modal
       adj 1: relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a
              distribution; "the modal age at which American
              novelists reach their peak is 30" [syn: {modal(a)}, {average}]
       2: of or relating to a musical mode; especially written in an
          ecclesiastical mode
       3: relating to or expressing the mood of a verb; "modal
          auxiliary"

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  modal
       
          1. (Of an interface) Having {mode}s.  Modeless interfaces are
          generally considered to be superior because the user does not
          have to remember which mode he is in.
       
          2. See {modal logic}.
       
          3. In {MS Windows} programming, A window with the label
          "WS_MODAL" will stay on the screen and claim all the
          user-input.  Other windows can only be accessed if the MODAL
          window is closed.  Such a window would typically be used for
          an error {dialog box} to warn the user for something
          important, like "Critical error, shut down the system and
          restart".
       
          (1995-02-07)