modulate
Americanverb (used with object)
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modulates,
present (3rd person singular)
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modulated,
past participle, past
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modulating
present participle
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to regulate by or adjust to a certain measure or proportion; soften; tone down.
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to alter or adapt (the voice) according to the circumstances, one's listener, etc.
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Music.
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to attune to a certain pitch or key.
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to vary the volume of (tone).
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Telecommunications. to cause the amplitude, frequency, phase, or intensity of (a carrier wave) to vary in accordance with a sound wave or other signal, the frequency of the signal wave usually being very much lower than that of the carrier.
verb (used without object)
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modulates,
present (3rd person singular)
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modulated,
past participle, past
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modulating
present participle
-
Telecommunications.
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to modulate a carrier wave.
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Citizens Band Radio Slang. to talk; visit.
Enjoyed modulating with you.
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Music. to pass from one key to another.
to modulate abruptly from A to B flat.
verb
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(tr) to change the tone, pitch, or volume of
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(tr) to adjust or regulate the degree of
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music
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to subject to or undergo modulation in music
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(often foll by to) to make or become in tune (with a pitch, key, etc)
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(tr) physics electronics to cause to vary by a process of modulation
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To vary the amplitude, frequency, or some other characteristic of a signal or power source.
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See also amplitude modulation frequency modulation
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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modulabilitynoun
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modulatornoun
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remodulateverb (used with object)
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modulativeadjective
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modulatoryadjective
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unmodulatedadjective
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unmodulativeadjective
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well-modulatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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modulatesimple
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modulatessimple
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have modulatedperfect
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has modulatedperfect
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am modulatingprogressive
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are modulatingprogressive
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is modulatingprogressive
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have been modulatingperfect progressive
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has been modulatingperfect progressive
Past
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modulatedsimple
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had modulatedperfect
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was modulatingprogressive
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were modulatingprogressive
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had been modulatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of modulate
1550–60; < Latin modulātus (past participle of modulārī to regulate (sounds), set to music, play an instrument). See module, -ate 1
Explanation
Is your friend's voice so high-pitched that people are starting to stare? Sweetly ask, "Can you modulate your voice, please? To modulate is to change the pitch of something. You can modulate things other than sound — it still refers to something that's being adjusted. Schools might modulate the number of students in the hallways at the same time by having each grade level start and end each at a different time. Traffic lights can modulate the number of cars that pass through an intersection in a certain interval. Computer modems modulate signals to allow computers to transfer information. In fact, modem gets its name from modulate/demodulate.
Vocabulary lists containing modulate
The Lightning Thief
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Heart of Darkness
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Out of My Mind
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"They help modulate and regulate many gene and signaling pathways in the brain."
From Science Daily ● May 26, 2026
"Now we can tell you that information, and we can see how individual chemical species modulate polarization depending on the charge state of atoms."
From Science Daily ● May 4, 2026
Other advantages include no launching device, the ability to modulate the beam's intensity, and unlimited "ammunition."
From Barron's ● Mar. 16, 2026
Olsen: How have you come to learn that distinction and how to modulate your performance, like knowing what you can do for a camera versus what you’re doing for the audience?
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2025
They’d arrived at an uneasy truce—Mamma didn’t have to modulate her tone if Dimple didn’t have to drop everything and rush to her aid for saffron emergencies.
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
Incyte said the acquisition includes Vega’s lead candidate VGA039, which modulates Protein S to improve hemostasis, potentially improving the body’s ability to control bleeding in numerous bleeding disorders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
"Ketogenic diet modulates gut microbiota-brain metabolite axis in a sex-and genotype-specific manner in APOE4 mice" was published in the Journal of Neurochemistry.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 21, 2025
Oppenheimer modulates the lighting during the scenes from cool to warm and back again, underlining the vacillating feelings they can’t acknowledge outright.
From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2024
That’s the focus of a new study, “Reining in regret: emotion regulation modulates regret in decision making,” co-authored by Temple University’s Crystal Reeck and Kevin LaBar, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2024
In most of his pieces Scarlatti modulates to the dominant; in minor, to the relative major.
From The Pianoforte Sonata Its Origin and Development by J. S. (John South) Shedlock
Aeva’s lidar is a little different from others, using “frequency modulated continuous wave” technology, which means it’s more immune to glare and sunlight and easier to use to calculate the velocity of objects.
From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026
Most political and foreign-policy actions can be modulated, corrected or refined over time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2025
It was a carefully modulated message in an area in which she has a double-digit advantage over Trump.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2024
I’m sure we modulated on set and that editorial choices were made to shade it, but everyone knew the target.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2024
They are painted in another style: smooth, finely modulated, realistic as a snapshot.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Everyone is kind of modulating their behavior based on how they are appearing out of body.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
I support having some way of modulating that asymmetry, such as through rent stabilization.
From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026
The facilities will operate as what the companies on Monday called flexible energy assets, supporting power grids by modulating consumption and leveraging on-site generation and storage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
These findings support the development of targeted therapeutic strategies aimed at modulating thrombo-inflammatory responses.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 13, 2025
He had been dancing about the stage, waving his spear, modulating his voice, and now suddenly he became still, and lowered his voice.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
