See Also: modify(medicine)
modify(dictionary)
modify(dictionary)

modify (iou)



modify verb trans. LME.
[Old & mod. French modifier from Latin modificari, -are, from modus MODE: see -FY.]
Scots Law. Assess or decree the amount of (a payment, Hist. esp. a parish minister's stipend); award (a payment) to. LME.
Limit, restrain; appease, assuage. LME-M16.
Make partial or minor changes to; alter without radical transformation. Orig. esp. qualify or moderate (a statement etc.), alter so as to make less severe; now freq., alter so as to improve. LME.
J. Lang There is generally a light breeze to modify the heat. T. H. Huxley The agents which are now at work in modifying the crust of the earth. P. Fitzgerald Freddie..did in fact modify her behaviour. New York Times The company has concentrated on modifying cars developed by Renault for the American market. Which? One of our tested sets..can be modified to run off a..battery.
Philosophy. Give (an object) its particular form of being or distinguishing characters; differentiate into a variety of forms. M17-L18.
Grammar.
a. Limit or qualify the sense of (a word, phrase, etc.). E18.
b. Change (a vowel) by umlaut. M19.