1. Relating to or expressing the mood of a verb
   "modal auxiliary"
    
2. Of or relating to a musical mode; especially written in an ecclesiastical mode
   "The composer used modal harmonies in the choral piece"
    
3. (statistics) relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a distribution
   "the modal age at which American novelists reach their peak is 30";
   - average

1. An auxiliary verb (such as ‘can’ or ‘will’) that is used to express modality
   "In 'She can sing', 'can' is a modal auxiliary verb";
   - modal auxiliary verb, modal auxiliary, modal verb

Derived forms: modals

See also: normal

Type of: auxiliary verb

Encyclopedia: Modal