Modulation

How to spell modulation

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce modulation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does modulation mean?

1. nounThe act of adjusting or varying something, such as the tone or pitch of a voice, in a controlled way.
2. nounA change from one musical key to another within a piece of music.
3. nounThe process of varying a carrier wave so it can carry information, as in radio or telecommunications.

Modulation in a sentence

• The actor's careful modulation of his voice held the audience's attention.

• The song's sudden modulation to a higher key lifted the final chorus.

• The engineer explained how frequency modulation keeps the broadcast clear.

• Good public speaking relies on the modulation of pace and volume.

• The composer's smooth modulation between major and minor impressed the examiners.

• The textbook compared amplitude modulation with newer digital methods.

Where does modulation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb modulari, meaning 'to measure off, to regulate, or to sing in a fitting rhythm', which was itself built on modulus, a 'small measure' and the diminutive of modus, meaning 'measure, manner, or limit'. The earliest English sense, borrowed through French in the late 1300s, leaned on the musical idea of singing or playing in due proportion, and only later narrowed to the technical sense of moving smoothly from one key to another. From that musical root the word spread into other fields where something is adjusted in a controlled, measured way, from the rise and fall of a speaking voice to the deliberate varying of a radio carrier wave. The same modus ancestor sits inside the everyday words 'mode', 'model', and 'moderate', all carrying that core notion of measured proportion. For spelling, it helps to remember the single 'd' and single 'l' of the Latin modulus, since the temptation to double a consonant is the usual trap.

How the word is built

• modul- (from Latin modulus: a small measure)
• -ation (noun of action)