modification: Meaning and Definition of

mod•i•fi•ca•tion

Pronunciation: (mod"u-fi-kā'shun), [key]
— n.
  1. an act or instance of modifying.
  2. the state of being modified; partial alteration.
  3. a modified form; variety.
  4. a change in a living organism acquired from its own activity or environment and not transmitted to its descendants.
  5. limitation or qualification.
  6. Limitation is one kind of modification.
    1. the use of a modifier in a construction, or of modifiers in a class of constructions or in a language.
    2. the meaning of a modifier, esp. as it affects the meaning of the word or other form modified:Limitation is one kind of modification.
    3. a change in the phonological shape of a morpheme, word, or other form when it functions as an element in a construction, as the change of not to -n't in doesn't.
    4. an adjustment in the form of a word as it passes from one language to another.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
See also: