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modify

/ˈmɑːdɪfaɪ//ˈmɒdɪfaɪ/·verb
to make partial changes to something, altering or improving it
Fig. 1 — I watch a plain car roll onto the shop floor, and then the build begins, one part at a time.
01Definition

To modify is to make changes — usually partial ones — to something that already exists, in order to alter or improve it: you modify a design, a contract, a recipe, or your own behaviour. From the Latin modus, 'measure', plus facere, 'to make' — to re-measure, to set to new limits. It overlaps with adapt, but where you adapt something to fit new conditions, you modify it deliberately, changing a feature here and a parameter there while the thing stays essentially itself. A small modification can lift a whole plan within a single constraint.

02In use
  • iEngineers modified the design to cut its weight without losing strength.
  • iiShe modified her argument slightly once she had seen the new data.
  • iiiYou can modify the recipe by swapping the butter for oil.
03Collocations
  • modify a design
  • slightly modify
  • modify behaviour
  • modify the terms
  • genetically modified

Family modification (noun) · modified (adjective) · modifier (noun)

04Relations

=adapt, alter, adjust, amend, revise

≠preserve, retain, leave unchanged

05Compared
PairThe difference
modify vs adaptyou adapt TO new conditions (change to fit); you modify a thing (rework its features on purpose).
06TOEFL & IELTS

A high-value academic verb for IELTS/TOEFL writing about changes to plans, designs, or behaviour. The noun is 'modification', and 'genetically modified' is a fixed phrase in science topics. Pronounced /ˈmɒdɪfaɪ/ (UK) or /ˈmɑːdɪfaɪ/ (US). Keep it apart from adapt: you adapt something to fit new conditions, but you modify it by deliberately changing a feature. In grammar a 'modifier' is a word that qualifies another.

07Asked
What is the difference between modify, alter and change?
Change is the widest — it can even mean replacing the thing outright. Alter makes it different in some respect. Modify is the engineer of the family: a deliberate, partial adjustment, usually toward a purpose, with the thing remaining itself throughout. The scene above is modify to the letter: rims, stance, wing and exhausts change one after another, yet at no point does a different car roll in — the identity survives every upgrade.
What is a modifier in grammar?
A word or phrase that qualifies another — adjusting its meaning without replacing it, which is exactly the verb's sense turned technical. In 'the red car', red modifies car; adverbs modify verbs; whole clauses can modify a sentence. Grammar borrowed the word because that is what modification is: the head word stays, and something attached to it changes how it reads.
What is the difference between modify and amend?
Amend belongs to documents and laws — a formal, recorded correction or improvement: you amend a constitution, a contract, a motion, and each amendment leaves a paper trail. Modify covers any partial change to anything, spoken, built or behavioural. If the change needs a vote, a signature or a clause number, the verb you want is amend.
Is modifying the same as adapting?
Close but not identical — you adapt something to fit new conditions, while you modify it by deliberately changing features; the pair is taken apart on the adapt vs modify page in the 'Compared' list above.
What does 'modified' mean for a car?
Changed from the specification it left the factory with — anything from new wheels and a lowered stance to a remapped engine. The word matters practically: insurers ask about modifications because they change the risk, and 'unmodified' works as a selling point in used-car listings. It is the participle doing exactly what the verb promises: the same car, its features deliberately changed.