modulate

English

Etymology

From Latin modulatus, past participle of modulari (“to measure, regulate, modulate”), from modulus (“measure”); see modulus. Compare module. By surface analysis, module +‎ -ate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑː.d͡ʒə.ˌleɪt/, /ˈmɑ.dju.ˌleɪt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Verb

modulate (third-person singular simple present modulates, present participle modulating, simple past and past participle modulated)

1. (transitive) To regulate, adjust or adapt
2. (transitive) To change the pitch, intensity or tone of one's voice or of a musical instrument
   • 1980 April 19, Andrea Loewenstein, “Random Lust”, in Gay Community News, page 10:

     "Can you tell?" she asked, in a trembling but well modulated and sensual voice.

3. (transitive, electronics) to vary the amplitude, frequency or phase of a carrier wave in proportion to the amplitude etc of a source wave (such as speech or music)
4. (intransitive, music) to move from one key or tonality to another, especially by using a chord progression

Derived terms

• amplitude modulation, AM
• frequency modulation, FM
• phase modulation

Related terms

• demodulate
• modem
• modulator
• module
• modulus

Translations

to regulate

• Bulgarian: променям (bg) (promenjam), регулирам (bg) (reguliram)
• Catalan: modular (ca)
• Danish: modulere, regulere
• Finnish: säännellä
• French: moduler (fr)
• German: modulieren (de)
• Italian: modulare (it)
• Maori: whakaauau
• Polish: modulować impf
• Portuguese: modular (pt)
• Russian: модулировать (ru) (modulirovatʹ)
• Slovene: regulirati, uravnati
• Spanish: modular (es)

to change the pitch (transitive)

• Bulgarian: модулирам (bg) (moduliram)
• Danish: modulere
• Finnish: moduloida
• French: moduler (fr)
• Maori: whakaauau
• Polish: cieniować impf, modulować impf

to vary the amplitude etc.

• Bulgarian: модилирам (modiliram)
• Catalan: modular (ca)
• Dutch: moduleren (nl)
• Finnish: moduloida
• French: moduler (fr)
• Russian: модулировать (ru) (modulirovatʹ)
• Ukrainian: модулюва́ти impf (moduljuváty)

to move from one key to another (intransitive)

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 轉調／转调 (zh) (zhuǎndiào)

• Danish: modulere
• Dutch: moduleren (nl)
• Finnish: moduloida, moduloitua
• French: moduler (fr)
• German: modulieren (de)
• Italian: modulare (it)
• Polish: modulować impf, zmodulować pf
• Russian: модули́ровать (ru) (modulírovatʹ)
• Ukrainian: модулюва́ти impf (moduljuváty)

Further reading

• “modulate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “modulate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Esperanto

Adverb

modulate

1. present adverbial passive participle of moduli

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

modulate

1. inflection of modulare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

modulate f pl

1. feminine plural of modulato

Latin

Participle

modulāte

1. vocative masculine singular of modulātus

References

• “modulate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “modulate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• modulate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Spanish

Verb

modulate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of modular combined with te