modulation : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: modulation	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for modulation
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
modulation n a musical passage moving from one key to another [syn: transition, modulation] (electronics) the transmission of a signal by using it to vary a carrier wave; changing the carrier's amplitude or frequency or phase rise and fall of the voice pitch Synonym(s): intonation, modulation, pitch contour a manner of speaking in which the loudness or pitch or tone of the voice is modified Synonym(s): modulation, inflection the act of modifying or adjusting according to due measure and proportion (as with regard to artistic effect)
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Modulation \Mod`ula"tion\, n. [L. modulatio: cf. F. modulation.] 1. The act of modulating, or the state of being modulated; as, the modulation* of the voice. 2. Sound modulated; melody. [R.] --Thomson. 3. (Mus.) A change of key, whether transient, or until the music becomes established in the new key; a shifting of the tonality of a piece, so that the harmonies all center upon a new keynote or tonic; the art of transition out of the original key into one nearly related, and so on, it may be, by successive changes, into a key quite remote. There are also sudden and unprepared modulations.