modal
/ˈmoʊdəl/
adjective
- Relating to mode or form, rather than substance; often used in grammar to describe verbs that express necessity, possibility, permission, or ability.
- Modal expressions like 'might' and 'should' change the meaning of a sentence.
- The teacher explained the difference between modal and main verbs.
- In English, 'can' and 'must' are examples of modal verbs.
- Relating to a statistical mode (the most frequent value in a data set).
- The modal value helps identify the most common outcome in a set of data.
- In this survey, the modal response was 'satisfied'.
- The modal score on the test was 85, meaning more students got that score than any other.
Synonyms
noun
- A modal verb (e.g., can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would).
- Learning how to use modals correctly is important for speaking English fluently.
- Modals like 'can' and 'may' are used to express ability or permission.
- In the sentence 'You should go,' the word 'should' is a modal.
- In statistics, the value that appears most frequently in a data set; the mode.
- When analyzing customer preferences, the modal is often the most popular choice.
- The teacher asked the class to find the modal of their test scores.
- The modal of the data set {2, 3, 3, 5, 7} is 3.