modulate
Americanverb (used with object)
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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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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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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.
Was that difficult for you to modulate, to keep that ambiguity, whether in the writing or directing Phoebe and Alden?
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 20, 2023
The walls can also modulate to change the acoustics.
From New York Times • Oct. 17, 2019
Baritone Leonard Warren as lago proved again his ability to soar dramatically or modulate to a mahogany pianissimo, invested his role with an air of sly innuendo that it often lacks.
From Time Magazine Archive
He had a fist that could smash the panels of a door, a voice that he could not modulate to conversational tones—so used was he to sending it against the wind.
From The Grain Ship by Robertson, Morgan
It is advisable to limit the work at first to melodies which do not modulate to the relative major.
From Music As A Language Lectures to Music Students by Home, Ethel
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.
