Modified

How to spell modified

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce modified

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does modified mean?

1. verbMade partial changes to something to improve, adjust, or adapt it.
2. adjectiveHaving been changed or adapted from an original or standard form.

Modified in a sentence

• verb

  The engineers modified the original design to cut costs.

• adjective

  The team released a modified version of the software with extra features.

• verb

  She modified the recipe to reduce the sugar.

• adjective

  He drives a heavily modified car built for the track.

Where does modified come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past tense and past participle of 'modify', which traces back to the Latin verb modificare, meaning 'to measure off, to limit, or to control'. That verb was built from modus, meaning 'measure' or 'manner', combined with facere, meaning 'to make', so the literal sense was 'to make to a measure'. English took it through Old French modifier in the late 1300s, at first carrying the idea of restraining or moderating something. Over time the meaning broadened to the everyday sense of making partial changes rather than strict limiting. The same modus root still surfaces in 'mode', 'model', and 'moderate', which is a useful reminder that the spelling keeps a single 'd' and an 'i' before the ending, not the doubled letters writers sometimes expect.

How the word is built

• mod (from Latin modus: measure, manner)
• -ify (from facere: to make)
• -ed (past tense / past participle)