Word.ws English Dictionary

dangling modifiers

dangling modifiers is the plural of dangling modifier.

Meaning of dangling modifier

Noun

dangling modifier (plural dangling modifiers)

  1. A word or clause that qualifies another word or clause ambiguously, sometimes causing confusion (as to which meaning was intended) or (more often) causing unintended humorousness.
    • The dangling modifier is a curse of modern writing, particularly obituaries.2004, Wynford Hicks, Quite Literally: Problem Words and how to Use Them, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 45
    Synonyms:
    dangler

Questions about dangling modifiers

What is dangling modifiers the plural of?
Dangling modifiers is the plural of dangling modifier.

Words near dangling modifiers in the dictionary

  1. dangling else
  2. dangling elses
  3. dangling link
  4. dangling links
  5. dangling modifier
  6. dangling modifiers
  7. dangling participle
  8. dangling participles
  9. dangling pointer
  10. dangling pointers
  11. dangling the Dunlops

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dangling modifiers (page history and authors); dangling modifier (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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