different between modify vs regulate

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

Borrowed from Latin regulatus, past participle of regul? (“to direct, rule, regulate”), from regula (“rule”), from reg? (“to keep straight, direct, govern, rule”). Compare regle, rail.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /????j?le?t/
• Hyphenation: re?gu?late

Verb

regulate (third-person singular simple present regulates, present participle regulating, simple past and past participle regulated)

1. To dictate policy.
2. To control or direct according to rule, principle, or law.
   • 1834, George Bancroft, History of the United States of America, from the Discovery of the Continent

     The herdsmen near the frontier adjudicated their own disputes, and regulated their own police.

3. To adjust to a particular specification or requirement: regulate temperature.
4. To adjust (a mechanism) for accurate and proper functioning.

   to regulate a watch, i.e. adjust its rate of running so that it will keep approximately standard time

   to regulate the temperature of a room, the pressure of steam, the speed of a machine, etc.

5. To put or maintain in order.

   to regulate the disordered state of a nation or its finances

   to regulate one's eating habits

Derived terms

• deregulate
• downregulate
• upregulate

Related terms

• rule
• ruler
• regular
• regulation
• regulator

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• legature

Latin

Verb

r?gul?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of r?gul?