modulation Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a musical passage moving from one key to another
    transition.
  2. noun (electronics) the transmission of a signal by using it to vary a carrier wave; changing the carrier's amplitude or frequency or phase
  3. noun rise and fall of the voice pitch
    intonation; pitch contour.
  4. noun a manner of speaking in which the loudness or pitch or tone of the voice is modified
    inflection.
  5. noun the act of modifying or adjusting according to due measure and proportion (as with regard to artistic effect)

WordNet

Mod`u*la"tion noun
Etymology
L. modulatio: cf. F. modulation.
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913