modality

Noun

modality (countable and uncountable, plural modalities)

1. The fact of being modal.
2. The classification of propositions on the basis on whether they claim possibility, impossibility, contingency or necessity; mode.
3. The inflection of a verb that shows how its action is conceived by the speaker.

   Synonyms:

   mood

4. A method of diagnosis or therapy.
   • If a port-wine stain has been treated with another modality, such as the argon, CO2, or KTP laser, electrocautery, radiation, or tattooing, FPDL treatment may provide less lightening and improvement.2001, Gregory Keller, Victor Lacombe, Lasers in Aesthetic Surgery, page 188
   • The four major modalities used in patients with solid tumors are (a) surgery, (b) radiation therapy, (c) chemotherapy, and (d) immunotherapy2006, Richard A. Helms, David J. Quan, Textbook of Therapeutics: Drug and Disease Management, page 2487
5. Any of the senses (such as sight or taste)
6. A particular way in which the information is to be encoded for presentation to humans, i.e. to the type of sign and to the status of reality ascribed to or claimed by a sign, text or genre.
7. The organization and structure of the church, as distinct from sodality or parachurch organizations.
8. The subject concerning certain diatonic scales known as musical modes.
9. The way in which infrastructure and knowledge of how to use it give rise to a meaningful pattern of interaction (a concept in Anthony Giddens's structuration theory).
   • Thus, the University budgeting system can be seen not only as modality in the reproduction of social structures, but also as an important means of meeting deeply rooted psychological needs for ontological security.1997, Christopher G. A. Bryant, David Jary, Anthony Giddens: Critical Assessments - Volume 4, →ISBN, page 307
   • Modalities of structuration, then, are simply ways in which rules and resources are knowingly used by people in interactions.2010, Kenneth Allan, Contemporary Social and Sociological Theory: Visualizing Social Worlds, →ISBN, page 255
10. The quality of being limited by a condition.
11. That whether a zodiac sign is cardinal, fixed or mutable