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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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:
“So they are able to modulate their demand.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 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
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
Our research has found that public opinion—unlike precision-guided export controls—can be difficult to modulate once unleashed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025
I had almost forgotten that humans can modulate their voices to express the emotion they are feeling.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
"GAE is a whole new treatment regimen that targets abnormal hypervascularity around the joint and, in turn, modulates the pathological neurovascular environment," Dr. Fleckenstein said.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 17, 2026
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
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
She looked up the meaning, “and I was like” — here the rapper notorious for her purring timbre modulates her voice to a humble higher pitch — “thank you.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2023
Thus Hegel's dialectic modulates only in the sphere of his distance.
From Notes of a Son and Brother by James, Henry
If, miraculously, the Strait of Hormuz reopens soon, that would be modulated.
From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026
The brakes have good stopping power and the pedal effort is easily modulated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
Wodehouse never exhausted the counterpoint between Bertie’s slangy gibbering and half-remembered literary allusions with Jeeves’ carefully modulated responses: “Very well, Jeeves, you agree with me that the situation is a lulu?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 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
They are painted in another style: smooth, finely modulated, realistic as a snapshot.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
The rare combination of off-grain fermentation and column distillation offers yet another lever to pull when it comes to modulating flavor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
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
"This study adds to emerging evidence that vaccines could play a role in promoting healthy aging by modulating biological systems beyond infection prevention," she said.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 26, 2026
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.
