modify

English

Etymology

From Middle English modifien, from Middle French modifier, from Latin modificare (“to limit, control, regulate, deponent”), from modificari (“to measure off, set bound to, moderate”), from modus (“measure”) + facere (“to make”); see mode.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒdɪfaɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑdɪfaɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mod‧i‧fy

Verb

modify (third-person singular simple present modifies, present participle modifying, simple past and past participle modified)

1. (transitive) To change part of.

   Her publisher advised her to modify a few parts of the book to make it easier to read.

2. (intransitive) To be or become modified.
3. (transitive) To set bounds to; to moderate.
4. (grammar, transitive) To qualify the meaning of.
   • 1977, Linda R. Waugh, A Semantic Analysis of Word Order: Position of the Adjective in French‎:

     There is inherently no ordering to the modification and no hierarchy of modification: that is, both adjectives modify the substantive and both apply equally to the substantive […]

   • 2016, Allen Ascher, The New Harbrace Guide: Genres for Composing‎:

     Adjectives modify nouns.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• adapt, alter, amend, revamp, rework

Derived terms

• modifier

Related terms

• modification

Translations

References

• “modify”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “modify”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• domify