modify

English

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒdɪfaɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑdɪfaɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mod‧i‧fy

Verb

modify (third-person singular simple present modifies, present participle modifying, simple past and past participle modified)

1. (transitive) To change part of.

   Her publisher advised her to modify a few parts of the book to make it easier to read.

2. (intransitive) To be or become modified.
3. (transitive) To set bounds to; to moderate.
4. (grammar, transitive) To qualify the meaning of.
   • 1977, Linda R. Waugh, A Semantic Analysis of Word Order: Position of the Adjective in French‎^[1]:

     There is inherently no ordering to the modification and no hierarchy of modification: that is, both adjectives modify the substantive and both apply equally to the substantive […]

   • 2016, Allen Ascher, The New Harbrace Guide: Genres for Composing‎^[2]:

     Adjectives modify nouns.

Conjugation

Conjugation of modify

infinitive	(to) modify
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	modify	modified
2nd-person singular	modify, modifiest†	modified, modifiedst†
3rd-person singular	modifies, modifieth†	modified
plural	modify
subjunctive	modify	modified
imperative	modify	—
participles	modifying	modified

^†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms

• adapt, alter, amend, revamp, rework

Derived terms

• modifier

Related terms

• modification

Translations

to change part of

• Belarusian: мадыфікава́ць impf or pf (madyfikavácʹ)
• Breton: kemmañ (br)
• Bulgarian: изменям (bg) (izmenjam), променям (bg) (promenjam)
• Catalan: modificar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 修改 (zh) (xiūgǎi)

• Crimean Tatar: tüzetmek
• Danish: modificere (da)
• Dutch: modificeren (nl), veranderen (nl)
• Esperanto: modifi, aliigi
• Estonian: muutma
• Finnish: muokata (fi), muunnella (fi), määrittää (fi) (grammar)
• French: modifier (fr)
• Galician: modificar (gl)
• German: ändern (de), abändern (de), modifizieren (de)
• Greek: μετατρέπω (el) (metatrépo), προσδιορίζω (el) (prosdiorízo)
• Hungarian: módosít (hu)
• Indonesian: mengoprek
• Interlingua: modificar
• Italian: modificare (it)
• Korean: 수정하다 (ko) (sujeonghada)
• Ladin: muder
• Latin: adaptō
• Maori: whakarerekē, whakakē
• Polish: modyfikować (pl), zmieniać (pl)
• Portuguese: modificar (pt)
• Romanian: modifica (ro)
• Russian: изменя́ть (ru) (izmenjátʹ), модифици́ровать (ru) (modificírovatʹ)
• Spanish: modificar (es)
• Swedish: modifiera (sv)
• Tibetan: སྒྱུར་བཅོས་གཏོང (sgyur bcos gtong), བཟོ་བཅོས་རྒྱག (bzo bcos rgyag)
• Turkish: modifiye etmek
• Ukrainian: модифікува́ти impf or pf (modyfikuváty)

to be or become modified

• Bulgarian: изменям се (izmenjam se), променям се (promenjam se)
• Finnish: muokkautua
• Greek: μετατρέπομαι (el) (metatrépomai)
• Hungarian: módosul (hu)
• Indonesian: terkoprek
• Romanian: a (se) modifica (ro)
• Russian: изменя́ться (ru) (izmenjátʹsja), модифици́роваться (ru) (modificírovatʹsja)

in grammar, to qualify another word or phrase

• French: modifier (fr)
• Korean: 수식하다 (susikada)
• Latin: adicio (la) (in the passive, + dative)
• Spanish: modificar (es)

References

• “modify”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “modify”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• domify