different between modify vs premodify

English

Etymology

From Middle English modifien, from Middle French modifier, from Latin modificare (“to limit, control, regulate, deponent”), from modificari (“to measure off, set bound to, moderate”), from modus (“measure”) + facere (“to make”); see mode.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?d?fa?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?d?fa?/
• Hyphenation: mod?i?fy

Verb

modify (third-person singular simple present modifies, present participle modifying, simple past and past participle modified)

1. (transitive) To change part of.
2. (intransitive) To be or become modified.
3. (transitive) To set bounds to; to moderate.
4. (grammar, transitive) To qualify the meaning of.
   • 1977, Linda R. Waugh, A Semantic Analysis of Word Order: Position of the Adjective in French

     There is inherently no ordering to the modification and no hierarchy of modification: that is, both adjectives modify the substantive and both apply equally to the substantive...

   • 2016, Allen Ascher, The New Harbrace Guide: Genres for Composing

     Adjectives modify nouns.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• adapt, alter, amend, revamp, rework

Related terms

• modification

Derived terms

• modifier

Translations

References

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

Anagrams

• domify

English

Etymology

pre- +? modify

Verb

premodify (third-person singular simple present premodifies, present participle premodifying, simple past and past participle premodified)

1. To modify in advance