Link Centre Dictionary

modulation

mo·du·la·tion

UK/ˌmɒdjʊˈleɪʃn̩/ US/-d͡ʒʊ-/ fairly common

noun

1.

a musical passage moving from one key to another

Synonyms
2.

(electronics) the transmission of a signal by using it to vary a carrier wave; changing the carrier''s amplitude or frequency or phase

3.
4.

a manner of speaking in which the loudness or pitch or tone of the voice is modified

Synonyms
5.

the act of modifying or adjusting according to due measure and proportion (as with regard to artistic effect)

Origin

From Late Middle English modulacion, modulacioun (“act of making music or singing; harmony; melody, song”), from Middle French modulation (modern French modulation), and directly from its etymon Latin modulātiō (“regular or rhythmical measure, modulation; inflection of tone; (architecture) calculation of measurements from a standard unit; (Late Latin) act of making music or singing; melody, song”), from modulātus (“modulated”) + -iō (suffix forming abstract nouns from verbs). Modulātus is a perfect participle of modulor (“to beat time; to make music or sing; to measure; etc.”), from modulus (“rhythmical measure, interval; rhythm; small interval or measure, etc.”) + -or (suffix forming certain inflections of verbs); and modulus is from modus (“measure; method; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure; etc.”)) + -ulus (diminutive suffix). By surface analysis, modulat(e) + -ion (suffix denoting an action or process, or its result).

Phrases

  • amplitude modulation
  • frequency modulation
  • phase modulation
  • pulse modulation
  • quadrature amplitude modulation
  • ring modulation
  • single-sideband modulation
  • wavelet modulation

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.