mode 1
/mohd/ , n.
1. a manner of acting or doing; method; way: modern modes of transportation.
2. a particular type or form of something: Heat is a mode of motion.
3. a designated condition or status, as for performing a task or responding to a problem: a machine in the automatic mode.
4. Philos.
a. appearance, form, or disposition taken by a thing, or by one of its essential properties or attributes.
b. (in the philosophy of Spinoza) one of the nonessential qualifications of God, contingent upon other modes. Cf. attribute (def. 9).
5. Logic.
a. modality (def. 3).
b. mood 2 (def. 2).
6. Music. any of various arrangements of the diatonic tones of an octave, differing from one another in the order of the whole steps and half steps; scale.
7. Gram. mood 2 (def. 1).
8. Statistics. the value of the variate at which a relative or absolute maximum occurs in the frequency distribution of the variate.
9. Petrog. the actual mineral composition of a rock, expressed in percentages by weight.
10. Physics. any of the distinct patterns of oscillation that a given periodically varying system can have.
[ 1250-1300; ME mod ( e ) ( modus measured amount, limit, manner, kind, tone ]
Syn. 1. See method .
mode 2
/mohd/ , n.
1. fashion or style in manners, dress, etc.: He was much concerned to keep up with the latest mode.
2. a light gray or drab color.
[ 1635-45; modus; see MODE 1 ]