MODE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mode mean? 

• MODE (noun)
  The noun MODE has 6 senses:

1. how something is done or how it happens

2. a particular functioning condition or arrangement

3. a classification of propositions on the basis of whether they claim necessity or possibility or impossibility

4. verb inflections that express how the action or state is conceived by the speaker

5. any of various fixed orders of the various diatonic notes within an octave

6. the most frequent value of a random variable

  Familiarity information: MODE used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MODE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

How something is done or how it happens

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

fashion; manner; mode; style; way

Context example:

in an abrasive fashion

Hypernyms ("mode" is a kind of...):

property (a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mode"):

drape (the manner in which fabric hangs or falls)

fit (the manner in which something fits)

form (a particular mode in which something is manifested)

life-style; life style; lifestyle; modus vivendi (a manner of living that reflects the person's values and attitudes)

setup (the way something is organized or arranged)

signature; touch (a distinguishing style)

wise (a way of doing or being)

response (the manner in which an electrical or mechanical device responds to an input signal or a range of input signals)

artistic style; idiom (the style of a particular artist or school or movement)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A particular functioning condition or arrangement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

switched from keyboard to voice mode

Hypernyms ("mode" is a kind of...):

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A classification of propositions on the basis of whether they claim necessity or possibility or impossibility

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

modality; mode

Hypernyms ("mode" is a kind of...):

logical relation (a relation between propositions)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Verb inflections that express how the action or state is conceived by the speaker

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

modality; mode; mood

Hypernyms ("mode" is a kind of...):

grammatical relation (a linguistic relation established by grammar)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mode"):

common mood; declarative; declarative mood; fact mood; indicative; indicative mood (a mood (grammatically unmarked) that represents the act or state as an objective fact)

subjunctive; subjunctive mood (a mood that represents an act or state (not as a fact but) as contingent or possible)

optative; optative mood (a mood (as in Greek or Sanskrit) that expresses a wish or hope; expressed in English by modal verbs)

imperative; imperative form; imperative mood; jussive mood (a mood that expresses an intention to influence the listener's behavior)

interrogative; interrogative mood (some linguists consider interrogative sentences to constitute a mood)

Derivation:

modal (relating to or expressing the mood of a verb)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Any of various fixed orders of the various diatonic notes within an octave

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

mode; musical mode

Hypernyms ("mode" is a kind of...):

diatonic scale (a scale with eight notes in an octave; all but two are separated by whole tones)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mode"):

church mode; ecclesiastical mode; Gregorian mode; medieval mode (any of a system of modes used in Gregorian chants up until 1600; derived historically from the Greek mode)

minor diatonic scale; minor scale (a diatonic scale with notes separated by whole tones except for the 2nd and 3rd and 5th and 6th)

major diatonic scale; major scale (a diatonic scale with notes separated by whole tones except for the 3rd and 4th and 7th and 8th)

Greek mode (any of the descending diatonic scales in the music of classical Greece)

Derivation:

modal (of or relating to a musical mode; especially written in an ecclesiastical mode)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The most frequent value of a random variable

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

modal value; mode

Hypernyms ("mode" is a kind of...):

average; norm (a statistic describing the location of a distribution)

Domain category:

statistics (a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters)

Derivation:

modal (relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a distribution)

 Context examples 

A display mode in which the object appears to move due to seeing views from sequentially slightly differing angles.

(Cine Display Mode, NCI Thesaurus)

Administration of a drug to the conjunctiva, the most frequently used mode of ocular drug delivery.

(Conjunctival Route of Administration, NCI Thesaurus)

Passage through time; duration; a systematic or/and orderly succession; a sequence, e.g. course of treatment; a mode of action or behavior; natural development, typical manner of proceeding.

(Course, NCI Thesaurus)

The usual mode of scanner operation in which a tracer's distribution throughout a subject is detected for subsequent processing into an image.

(Emission scan, NCI Thesaurus)

The mode of action of azimexon is unknown.

(Azimexon, NCI Thesaurus)

"Sub-Antarctic mode water exerts a staggering level of control on much of the global ocean," Balch said.

(Study reveals changing patterns in globally important algae, National Science Foundation)

What of his joy, the great love in him, ever surging and struggling to express itself, succeeded in finding a new mode of expression.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It was a primitive mode of reasoning and of looking at things that he understood thoroughly.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Back then, the TCM thrusters were used in a more continuous firing mode; they had never been used in the brief bursts necessary to orient the spacecraft.

(Voyager 1 Fires Up Thrusters After 37 Years, NASA)

Some devices even include night mode settings that limit blue light exposure.

(Artificial Light of Digital Devices Lessens Sleep Quality, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)