-ˌfī verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
Etymology: Middle English modifien, from Middle French modifier, from Latin modificare, modificari to measure, moderate, from modus measure, manner + -ficare, -ficari -fy — more at mete
transitive verb
1. : to make more temperate and less extreme : lessen the severity of : moderate
the proximity of the ocean modifies the temperature — American Guide Series: Rhode Island
traffic rules were modified to let him pass — Van Wyck Brooks
2. Scots law : to award or decree as something to be done or paid (as a minister's stipend against his parish)
3.
a. : to limit or restrict the meaning of : be subordinate to in a grammatical construction : qualify
b. : to change (a vowel) by umlaut
4.
a. : to make minor changes in the form or structure of : alter without transforming
the aeroplane — as it was called for many years before the word was modified to airplane — A.F.Harlow
represents a type already partly modified by domestication — P.C.Mangelsdorf
b. : to make a basic or important change in : alter
the older view that laws modify conduct and that punishment effectively limits crime — Alex Comfort
the weakening of the geographical factor in social organization must … profoundly modify our attitude toward the meaning of personal relations — Edward Sapir
have modified my views of conduct to conform with what seem to me the implications of my beliefs — T.S.Eliot
5. : to change the form or properties of for a definite purpose
the equipment was modified to produce locomotives — American Guide Series: Virginia
a Navy trainer … was modified … for flight study of the system of boundary-layer control by blowing — Report: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
starch is modified by heating to produce British gum
intransitive verb
: to undergo change
Synonyms: see change