Meaning

(uncountable) Modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; (countable) an instance of this..

Definitions by Sense

1. (uncountable) Modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; (countable) an instance of this.
2. Modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; (countable) an instance of this.
3. (uncountable) Changing of a thing from one form to another; (countable) an instance of this.
4. Harmonious use of language in poetry or prose.
5. Modification of the parts of a classical Greek or Roman building to achieve appropriate proportions by measuring in modules (“standard units of measure, usually the diameter or radius of a column at the base of a shaft”).
6. Any of the musical notes in ecclesiastical modes of music on which a melodic phrase had to begin and end.
7. Arrangement or composition, or performance, of music in a certain key or mode; also (countable) a series of musical notes, chord, or tune analyzed according to a key or mode.
8. Making music or singing; (countable) a melody, a tune; also (chiefly in the plural), a musical note.

Example Sentences

More ouer the emperours that were moſte noble⸝ delited in daunſyng⸝ perceyuing ther in to be a perfecte meaſure⸝ which maye be called modulation: wherin ſome daunſers of olde tyme ſo wonderfully excelled⸝ that they wolde plainly expreſſe in daunſynge⸝ without any wordes or dittie⸝ hiſtories with the hole circumſtaunce of affaires⸝ in them cõtayned: […]

Theſe [minerals] have not yet been vvell reduced, or the number of the ſimple original ones rightly fixt; ſome, vvhich are only Compounds, the Matter of tvvo or more kinds being mix'd together, and, by the different Proportion and Modulation of that Matter, variouſly diſguiſed and diverſifyed, having been reputed all different kinds of Minerals, and thereby the Number of them unneceſſarily multiplied.

There was a touching modulation in these words about her father that Walter understood too well.

Then begin the arts of rhetoric and poetry, the regulation of figures, the ſelection of vvords, the modulation of periods, the graces of tranſition, the complication of cauſes, and all the delicacies of ſtyle, and ſubtilties of compoſition, uſeful vvhile they advance perſpicuity, and laudable vvhile they increaſe pleaſure, but eaſy to be refined by needleſs ſcrupuloſity till they ſhall more embarraſs the vvriter than aſſiſt the reader or delight him.

About Theatres, ſaith He [Vitruvius], are Porticoes, and VValks, vvhich appear ought to be ſo placed, as they muſt be double. And have the outvvard Columns Dorick vvith Architraves, and Ornaments made from the rule of the Dorick modulation.

Word Forms

• modulations

Synonyms for modulation

Related Words

When Should You Use Modulation?

Use modulation when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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