modulate

From Latin modulatus, past participle of modulari (“to measure, regulate, modulate”), from modulus (“measure”); see modulus. Compare module. Surface etymology: module +‎ -ate

modulate (third-person singular simple present modulates, present participle modulating, simple past and past participle modulated)

1. (transitive) To regulate, adjust or adapt
2. (transitive) To change the pitch, intensity or tone of one's voice or of a musical instrument
3. (transitive, electronics) to vary the amplitude, frequency or phase of a carrier wave in proportion to the amplitude etc of a source wave (such as speech or music)
4. (intransitive, music) to move from one key or tonality to another, especially by using a chord progression

• amplitude modulation, AM
• frequency modulation, FM
• phase modulation

• demodulate
• modem
• modulator
• module
• modulus

• modulate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• modulate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

modulate

1. second-person plural present indicative of modulare
2. second-person plural imperative of modulare
3. feminine plural of modulato

modulāte

1. vocative masculine singular of modulātus

• modulate in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• modulate in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• modulate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette