modality

[ moh-dal-i-tee ]
See synonyms for: modalitymodalities on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural mo·dal·i·ties.
  1. the quality or state of being modal.

  2. an attribute or circumstance that denotes mode or manner.

  1. Also called mode. Logic. the classification of propositions according to whether they are contingently true or false, possible, impossible, or necessary.

  2. Medicine/Medical. the application of a therapeutic agent, usually a physical therapeutic agent.

  3. one of the primary forms of sensation, as vision or touch.

Origin of modality

1
From the Medieval Latin word modālitās, dating back to 1610–20. See modal, -ity

Other words from modality

  • mul·ti·mo·dal·i·ty, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use modality in a sentence

  • In view of the many differences obtaining between them, how otherwise could modalities form a category?

    Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 3 | Plotinos (Plotinus)
  • A social average of individual modalities interests us more than the incommunicable originality of our deeper life.

  • But this division into three modalities or into three states is far from giving the number of the manifestations of being.

  • The simplisme of M. Zola is not absolute, as but one of the three constituent modalities is omitted, that one being morality.

  • The personal consciousness is only one of the modalities of the general consciousness.

British Dictionary definitions for modality

modality

/ (məʊˈdælɪtɪ) /


nounplural -ties
  1. the condition of being modal

  2. a quality, attribute, or circumstance that denotes mode, mood, or manner

  1. logic the property of a statement of being classified under one of the concepts studied by modal logic, esp necessity or possibility

  2. any physical or electrical therapeutic method or agency

  3. any of the five senses

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012