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Synonyms

modify

American

[mod-uh-fahy] / ˈmɒd əˌfaɪ /

verb (used with object)

to change somewhat the form or qualities of; alter partially; amend.

to modify a contract.

Synonyms:

reform, shape, adjust, vary
Grammar. (of a word, phrase, or clause) to stand in a syntactically subordinate relation to (another word, phrase, or clause), usually with descriptive, limiting, or particularizing meaning; be a modifier. In a good man, good modifies man.
to be the modifier or attribute of.
to change (a vowel) by umlaut.
to reduce or lessen in degree or extent; moderate; soften.

to modify one's demands.

verb (used without object)

to be or become modified.

modify British

/ ˈmɒdɪˌfaɪ /

verb

to change the structure, character, intent, etc, of
to make less extreme or uncompromising

to modify a demand
grammar (of a word or group of words) to bear the relation of modifier to (another word or group of words)
linguistics to change (a vowel) by umlaut
(intr) to be or become modified

"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

Synonym Usage

Modify, qualify, temper suggest altering an original statement, condition, or the like, so as to avoid anything excessive or extreme. To modify is to alter in one or more particulars, generally in the direction of leniency or moderation: to modify demands, rates. To qualify is to restrict or limit by exceptions or conditions: to qualify one's praise, hopes. To temper is to alter the quality of something, generally so as to diminish its force or harshness: to temper one's criticism with humor.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of modify

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English modifien, from Middle French modifier, from Latin modificāre “to impose a rule or pattern, regulate, restrain”; equivalent to mode ¹ + -ify

Explanation

To modify is to change or transform, but only slightly. If you miss your free-throws half the time, your coach will probably try to improve your shooting average by modifying your technique. Modify may mean to alter something, but it's not a total makeover. When you modify or make modifications, you're making subtle changes. These tweaks are usually needed to make improvements or make the thing being modified less extreme. So you can modify your voice if your tone is too harsh, or modify your wardrobe with a few new pairs of cool shoes.

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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:

modify modifies modified modifying

So unmarried couples with shared embryos may want to modify the terms of the contract signed with the fertility clinic as part of a prenup process.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

Scientists then genetically modify those T cells in the laboratory.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026

Proprietary models from companies like OpenAI, Anthropic or Google aren’t freely available for users to download and modify, while open-source and open-weight models are.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

What this means is that well-versed techies can now download and modify this AI without approval from Meta.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

As a child I was taught, for example, that the words soap in soap flakes and that in that boy were adjectives, because they modify nouns.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

On Kalshi, Boss places 60 trades a minute and modifies his bids and asks 30 times a second.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026

Ferreira modifies these cells with a CAR that recognizes a specific surface protein placed on the beta cells.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 2, 2026

Developed in partnership with Gilead Sciences, the treatment is a so-called CAR-T therapy that extracts a patient’s T-cells and modifies them to target cancer cells.

From Barron's ● Dec. 9, 2025

County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic modifies the brothers’ original sentence to 50 years to life.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2025

Many of our “symptoms” of disease actually represent ways in which some damned clever microbe modifies our bodies or our behavior such that we become enlisted to spread microbes.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

A physical safety car involves a modified high-performance road car entering the track and having the field line up behind it.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

President Trump modified the scope of some existing tariffs on Canada, and has now imposed 50% levies on some all-terrain vehicles and boats.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

The lawsuit alleges that Macciello modified the loan agreement under duress and agreed to give Shvartsman and his company a greater share of the film’s potential proceeds.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

The corn ground at the Old Mill is Tennessee-grown, never genetically modified, and no harsh chemicals or additives are added to the cornmeal and grits.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

It was my staple thank-you, get well soon, any holiday, and most often goodbye card and could be modified to almost any animal.

From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry

But either upgrading infrastructure to climate resiliant schools or modifying the academic year would need institutional change with the possibility of a lot of investment.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

A few times lately, I’ve caught myself modifying my own work to sound “less like A.I.”

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026

By modifying an open model’s weights—which encode knowledge and behavior—anyone can tear down its safety guardrails.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

Rather than modifying the ink with surfactants or chemically altering the particles, they dispersed nanoscale ultra fine bubbles throughout the liquid.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026

Roses were not roses but “flecks of white or red modifying masses of green.”

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023