Word
modify
Phoneticsmod·i·fy
US/ˈmɑdəˌfaɪ/
UK/mˈɒdɪfˌaɪ/
Definitions
01to change slightly
v. to make small changes to something, usually to improve it or make it fit a new situation.
v. to make partial changes to something in order to improve it or make it less extreme. Transitive — requires a direct object.
“The engineers had to modify the car's design to make it safer for passengers.”
“The software developers had to modify the existing source code to ensure compatibility with the latest operating system update.”
Academic
Usage
Often used in technical or formal contexts regarding plans, designs, or laws.
02to describe or limit a word
v. to change or add to the meaning of another word.
v. to qualify or limit the meaning of a word or phrase by providing additional information. Transitive — the subject is usually a grammatical unit like an adjective or adverb.
“In the phrase 'red apple', the adjective 'red' modifies the noun 'apple'.”
“Adverbs typically modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs to provide specific details regarding time, manner, or place.”
Academic · Technical
Usage
The verb is transitive and takes the word being described as its object.
Real-World Examples
“Jayanti modifies root words from Sanskrit with prefixes and suffixes to arrive at the translation.” “One solution to this problem is to modify mRNA’s building blocks – specifically, changing the U, or uridine, to its chemical cousins, pseudouridine and N1-methylpseudouridine .” Etymology
From Middle English modifien, from Middle French modifier, from Latin modificare (“to limit, control, regulate, deponent”), from modificari (“to measure off, set bound to, moderate”), from modus (“measure”) + facere (“to make”); see mode.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Collocations
Word family
Domain
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/modify