Merriam-Webster's Word Central

September 30, 2009

modulate (verb): \MAH-juh-layt\
What does it mean?: 1 : to tune to a key or pitch2 : to adjust or regulate to the proper proportion, especially : to tone down : soften3 : to vary a quality (as frequency or amplitude) of an electromagnetic wave for the transmission of information (as by radio)
How do you use it?: Jake tries hard to remember that he must modulate his booming voice when he's in the library.
Are you a word wiz?: Which one of these sentences do you think uses "modulate" correctly?

A. In an effort to be a considerate neighbor, Cassie carefully modulates the volume when she watches TV late at night.

B. Phil cracked one of his modulates when he bit down on a hard pizza crust.

C. The city is modulating the century-old school to insure that each classroom will have Internet access.

D. After its last owner died, the once grand mansion was allowed to modulate and was finally demolished.

You've tuned into the right answer if you picked A. In B, use of the verb "modulates" in place of the noun "molars," which are the teeth used for grinding, clearly doesn't work. The city is "modernizing" the school in C, to insure that it satisfies present-day needs, and the neglected mansion in D has been allowed to "molder," that is, "to crumble to bits by slow decay." We are then left with sentence A, and Cassie's attempts to avoid disturbing her neighbors' sleep.

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