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mode

Pronunciation: /məʊd/

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Definition of mode

noun

  • 1a way or manner in which something occurs or is experienced, expressed, or done:his preferred mode of travel was a kayak
  • an option allowing a change in the method of operation of a device, especially a camera:a camcorder in automatic mode
  • Computing a way of operating or using a system:some computers provide several so-called processor modes
  • Physics any of the distinct kinds or patterns of vibration of an oscillating system.
  • Logic the character of a modal proposition (whether necessary, contingent, possible, or impossible).
  • Logic & Grammaranother term for mood2.
  • 2a fashion or style in clothes, art, literature, etc.:in the Seventies the mode for active wear took hold
  • 3 Statistics the value that occurs most frequently in a given set of data.
  • 4 Music a set of musical notes forming a scale and from which melodies and harmonies are constructed.
  • The modes of plainsong and later Western music (including the usual major and minor scales) correspond to the diatonic scales played on the white notes of a piano. They are named arbitrarily after ancient Greek modes: Ionian (or major), Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian

Origin:

late Middle English (in the musical and grammatical senses): from Latin modus 'measure', from an Indo-European root shared by mete1; compare with mood2

mode in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of mode in the US English dictionary
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