modulate. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

modulate

SYLLABICATION:	mod·u·late
PRONUNCIATION:	mj-lt
VERB:	Inflected forms: mod·u·lat·ed, mod·u·lat·ing, mod·u·lates
TRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To adjust or adapt to a certain proportion; regulate or temper. 2. To change or vary the pitch, intensity, or tone of (one's voice or a musical instrument, for example). 3. Electronics a. To vary the frequency, amplitude, phase, or other characteristic of (electromagnetic waves). b. To vary (electron velocity) in an electron beam.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	Music To move from one key or tonality to another by means of a melody or chord progression.
ETYMOLOGY:	Latin modulr, modult-, to measure off, to regulate, from modulus, diminutive of modus, measure. See med- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	modu·la·bili·ty —NOUN modu·lative, modu·la·tory (-l-tôr, -tr) —ADJECTIVE


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.