modulation
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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10 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "modulation", 10-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "modulation" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "modulation" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
modulation is aEnglishnoun. It means: Modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; (countable) an instance of this. Pronounced /ˌmɒdjʊˈleɪʃn̩/. Often confused with modulator and moderation.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | modulation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌmɒdjʊˈleɪʃn̩/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #19,908 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for modulation is 10 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌmɒdjʊˈleɪʃn̩/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,908 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 15 documented wrong-spelling variants for modulation, with forms such as "mdoulation", "mmodulation", and "moddulation". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "modulator", "moderation", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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; i… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is modulation, spelled M-O-D-U-L-A-T-I-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; (countable) an instance of this.
- 2Modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; (countable) an instance of this.
- 3Modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; (countable) an instance of this.
- 4Modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; (countable) an instance of this.
- 5Modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; (countable) an instance of this.
- 6Modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; (countable) an instance of this.
- 7Modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; (countable) an instance of this.
- 8Changing of a thing from one form to another; (countable) an instance of this.
- 9Harmonious use of language in poetry or prose.
- 10Modification of the parts of a classical Greek or Roman building to achieve appropriate proportions by measuring in modules (“standard units of measure, usually the diameter or radius of a column at the base of a shaft”).
- 11Any of the musical notes in ecclesiastical modes of music on which a melodic phrase had to begin and end.
- 12Arrangement or composition, or performance, of music in a certain key or mode; also (countable) a series of musical notes, chord, or tune analyzed according to a key or mode.
- 13Making music or singing; (countable) a melody, a tune; also (chiefly in the plural), a musical note.
Etymology
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).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mdoulation,mmodulation,moddulation,modluation,modualtion,modulaiton,modulasion,modulatino,modulationn,modulatoin,modulattion,modullation,modultaion,moudlation,omdulation
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for modulation
Misspelling Variants of "modulation"
Frequency rank: #19,908 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter M in our English index: