lexicow

modify

/ˈmɑːdɪfaɪ//ˈmɒdɪfaɪ/·verb
I watch a plain car roll onto the shop floor, and then the build begins, one part at a time. The hubs are pulled and deep rims spun on; the body slams down onto a low stance; a wide wing is planted on the deck; twin exhausts go on and blow smoke as the engine revs, and the underglow lights. It is the same car the whole way — never swapped for another, only worked over, feature by feature, until the stock thing on the lift has become a beast.
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Definition

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.

Examples

  • Engineers modified the design to cut its weight without losing strength.
  • She modified her argument slightly once she had seen the new data.
  • You can modify the recipe by swapping the butter for oil.

Collocations

modify a design·slightly modify·modify behaviour·modify the terms·genetically modified

Synonyms

adapt·alter·adjust·amend·revise

Antonyms

preserve·retain·leave unchanged

See also

Word family

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

In TOEFL & 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.