modifier

English

Etymology

From modify +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒdɪfaɪə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑdɪfaɪɚ/
• Hyphenation: mod‧i‧fi‧er

Noun

modifier (plural modifiers)

2. One who, or that which, modifies.
4. (grammar) A word, phrase, or clause that limits or qualifies the sense of another word or phrase. (It may be any of the following: an adjective phrase, an adverb phrase, a prepositional phrase, a noun phrase, or a subordinate clause.)

   Hypernym: adjunct

   Coordinate term: supplement

6. (programming) A keyword that qualifies the meaning of other code.

   The protected modifier makes a class member visible to subclasses, but not to external code.

8. (computing) Short for modifier key.

Synonyms

• qualifier

 

Derived terms

• access modifier
• compound modifier
• dangling modifier
• modifier key
• noun modifier
• small ubiquitin-related modifier
• squinting modifier

 

Related terms

• postmodifier
• premodifier

 

Translations

one who modifies

• Bulgarian: модифика́тор m (modifikátor)
• Catalan: modificador m
• Finnish: muunnin, modifikaattori
• French: modificateur (fr) m
• Galician: modificador m
• German: Modifikator m
• Persian: اصلاحگر (fa)
• Polish: modyfikator (pl) m
• Portuguese: modificador (pt) m
• Russian: модифика́тор (ru) m (modifikátor)

grammar: qualifying word, clause or phrase

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 修飾語 / 修饰语 (zh) (xiūshìyǔ)

• Czech: přívlastek (cs) m
• Dutch: modificeerder m
• Finnish: määrite (fi), määriteosa (fi)
• French: modificateur (fr) m
• German: Attribut (de) n, Bestimmungswort (de) n, Bestimmung (de) f
• Hindi: विशेषण (hi) m (viśeṣaṇ)
• Hungarian: jelző (hu), szabad bővítmény, jelzői vagy szabad határozói (szerepű) kifejezés
• Japanese: 修飾語 (ja) (しゅうしょくご, shūshokugo), 修飾子 (しゅうしょくし, shūshokushi)
• Korean: 수식어 (ko) (susigeo)
• Malayalam: വിശേഷണം (ml) (viśēṣaṇaṁ), ഭേദകം (ml) (bhēdakaṁ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: adledd (no) n

• Persian: وصفال
• Polish: przydawka (pl) f
• Portuguese: modificador (pt) m
• Russian: определе́ние (ru) n (opredelénije)
• Sanskrit: विशेषण (sa) m (viśeṣaṇa)
• Spanish: modificador (es) m
• Swedish: attribut (sv) n

French

Etymology

From Latin modificāre, from modus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.di.fje/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

modifier

1. to change, modify

Conjugation

Conjugation of modifier (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	modifier
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	modifiant /mɔ.di.fjɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		modifié /mɔ.di.fje/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	modifie /mɔ.di.fi/	modifies /mɔ.di.fi/	modifie /mɔ.di.fi/	modifions /mɔ.di.fjɔ̃/	modifiez /mɔ.di.fje/	modifient /mɔ.di.fi/
	imperfect	modifiais /mɔ.di.fjɛ/	modifiais /mɔ.di.fjɛ/	modifiait /mɔ.di.fjɛ/	modifiions /mɔ.di.fi.jɔ̃/	modifiiez /mɔ.di.fi.je/	modifiaient /mɔ.di.fjɛ/
	past historic2	modifiai /mɔ.di.fje/	modifias /mɔ.di.fja/	modifia /mɔ.di.fja/	modifiâmes /mɔ.di.fjam/	modifiâtes /mɔ.di.fjat/	modifièrent /mɔ.di.fjɛʁ/
	future	modifierai /mɔ.di.fi.ʁe/	modifieras /mɔ.di.fi.ʁa/	modifiera /mɔ.di.fi.ʁa/	modifierons /mɔ.di.fi.ʁɔ̃/	modifierez /mɔ.di.fi.ʁe/	modifieront /mɔ.di.fi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	modifierais /mɔ.di.fi.ʁɛ/	modifierais /mɔ.di.fi.ʁɛ/	modifierait /mɔ.di.fi.ʁɛ/	modifierions /mɔ.di.fi.ʁjɔ̃/	modifieriez /mɔ.di.fi.ʁje/	modifieraient /mɔ.di.fi.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	modifie /mɔ.di.fi/	modifies /mɔ.di.fi/	modifie /mɔ.di.fi/	modifiions /mɔ.di.fi.jɔ̃/	modifiiez /mɔ.di.fi.je/	modifient /mɔ.di.fi/
	imperfect2	modifiasse /mɔ.di.fjas/	modifiasses /mɔ.di.fjas/	modifiât /mɔ.di.fja/	modifiassions /mɔ.di.fja.sjɔ̃/	modifiassiez /mɔ.di.fja.sje/	modifiassent /mɔ.di.fjas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	modifie /mɔ.di.fi/	—	modifions /mɔ.di.fjɔ̃/	modifiez /mɔ.di.fje/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Related terms

• modifiable
  • immodifiable
  • modifiabilité
• modification
  • modificateur
• modifieur

Further reading

• “modifier”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.