modifier

American  

[mod-uh-fahy-er] / ˈmɒd əˌfaɪ ər /

noun

• modifiers
  plural

1. a person or thing that modifies.

2. Grammar.

   1. a word, phrase, or sentence element that limits or qualifies the sense of another word, phrase, or element in the same construction.

   2. the immediate constituent of an endocentric construction that is not the head.

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modifier British  

/ ˈmɒdɪˌfaɪə /

noun

1. Also called: qualifier.  grammar a word or phrase that qualifies the sense of another word; for example, the noun alarm is a modifier of clock in alarm clock and the phrase every day is an adverbial modifier of walks in he walks every day

2. a person or thing that modifies

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modifier Cultural  

1. A word or group of words that describes or limits a verb, noun, adjective, or adverb. Modifiers applied to nouns are adjectives. Modifiers applied to verbs or adjectives are adverbs. Those that are applied to adverbs themselves are also called adverbs.

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Grammar

See dangling participle, misplaced modifier.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• modifiers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of modifier

First recorded in 1575–85; modify + -er ¹

Explanation

A modifier is a word that describes or changes another word. Adjectives and adverbs are fun modifiers. They can turn a “man” into a “strange man” or make him “act strangely.” To modify is to change slightly, so a modifier is anything that makes this change. Modifiers are popular in grammar land, but you could say that chocolate is a mood modifier, for example. An editor, who alters a few sentences, can be described as a modifier of the original manuscript. In the world of science, a modifier is a kind of gene that changes the effect of another gene. Modifier comes from the Latin word modificare, "to limit or restrain."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

modifier modifiers

These genes are known as epigenetic modifier genes because they influence gene activity by adding chemical groups to DNA and altering its structure.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 7, 2026

Lynch’s dystopian novel, which won the Booker Prize on Sunday, is at once so particularly Irish yet so universally familiar that it deserves the overused modifier “Kafkaesque.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 29, 2023

My team also uses fruit flies to identify modifier genes and then test how they influence disease in neurons from patients with FTD or ALS.

From Salon ● Feb. 26, 2023

Would a modifier like “death-defying” mean less when everyone in the tent — performers, spectators — had lived through a global pandemic?

From New York Times ● Nov. 25, 2022

As long as the modifier is short, it poses no difficulty for the reader.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

He seldom refers to coal without the modifiers “clean” and “beautiful.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2026

At the same time, management described customization as a $1 billion-a-year business, built on high-margin modifiers such as cold foam, milk alternatives, and protein add-ins that allow customers to personalize nearly every beverage.

From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026

Researchers note that further mechanistic studies will be needed to understand why the same genetic modifiers can have opposite effects on different repeats.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 9, 2026

Its members are of intense scientific interest because they hold clues to genetic modifiers of, and potential treatments for, Huntington’s disease.

From New York Times ● May 23, 2023

And O’Connor frequently moves temporal modifiers to the front of the sentence: When the cold weather arrives; When the fish are frozen out; In the winter; When these areas become frozen solid.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker