mode

/moʊd/

/məʊd/

Other forms: modes

You can describe the specific style of doing something as your mode. If you're in vacation mode, for example, it might mean you say everything in a super-relaxed voice and spend all of your classes daydreaming.

From the Latin modus or "manner," it has been popular since the 1400s. Since the 1600s, people have been using it as another word for "fashionable." The French term "a la mode" literally means "in the fashion," or "fashionable," but is more commonly used to describe as specific way of serving dessert (ice cream on the side).

Definitions of mode

1. noun

   how something is done or how it happens
   “their nomadic mode of existence”

   synonyms: fashion, manner, modality, style, way

   types:

   artistic style, idiom

   the style of a particular artist or school or movement

   drape

   the manner in which fabric hangs or falls

   fit

   the manner in which something fits

   form

   a particular mode in which something is manifested

   life style, life-style, lifestyle, modus vivendi

   a manner of living that reflects the person's values and attitudes

   setup

   the way something is organized or arranged

   signature, touch

   a distinguishing style

   wise

   a way of doing or being

   response

   the manner in which an electrical or mechanical device responds to an input signal or a range of input signals

   baroque, baroqueness

   elaborate and extensive ornamentation in decorative art and architecture that flourished in Europe in the 17th century

   classical style

   the artistic style of ancient Greek art with its emphasis on proportion and harmony

   order

   (architecture) one of original three styles of Greek architecture distinguished by the type of column and entablature used or a style developed from the original three by the Romans

   rococo

   fanciful but graceful asymmetric ornamentation in art and architecture that originated in France in the 18th century

   High Renaissance

   the artistic style of early 16th century painting in Florence and Rome; characterized by technical mastery and heroic composition and humanistic content

   treatment

   a manner of dealing with something artistically

   fast lane

   a hectic and pressured lifestyle often characterized by recklessness or dissipation

   free living

   a lifestyle given to easy indulgence of the appetites

   vanity fair

   a vain and frivolous lifestyle especially in large cities

   common touch

   the property of appealing to people in general (usually by appearing to have qualities in common with them)

   hang

   the way a garment hangs

   neoclassicism

   revival of a classical style (in art or literature or architecture or music) but from a new perspective or with a new motivation

   classicalism, classicism

   a movement in literature and art during the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe that favored rationality and restraint and strict forms

   Romantic Movement, Romanticism

   a movement in literature and art during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that celebrated nature rather than civilization

   type of:

   property

   a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class
2. noun

   a particular functioning condition or arrangement
   “switched from keyboard to voice mode”

   synonyms: modality

   type of:

   condition, status

   a state at a particular time
3. noun

   verb inflections that express how the action or state is conceived by the speaker
   synonyms: modality, mood

   types:

   common mood, declarative, declarative mood, fact mood, indicative, indicative mood

   a mood (grammatically unmarked) that represents the act or state as an objective fact

   subjunctive, subjunctive mood

   a mood that represents an act or state (not as a fact but) as contingent or possible

   optative, optative mood

   a mood (as in Greek or Sanskrit) that expresses a wish or hope; expressed in English by modal verbs

   imperative, imperative form, imperative mood, jussive mood

   a mood that expresses an intention to influence the listener's behavior

   interrogative, interrogative mood

   some linguists consider interrogative sentences to constitute a mood

   type of:

   grammatical relation

   a linguistic relation established by grammar
4. noun

   any of various fixed orders of the various diatonic notes within an octave
   synonyms: musical mode

   types:

   Gregorian mode, church mode, ecclesiastical mode, medieval mode

   any of a system of modes used in Gregorian chants up until 1600; derived historically from the Greek mode

   Greek mode

   any of the descending diatonic scales in the music of classical Greece

   major diatonic scale, major scale

   a diatonic scale with notes separated by whole tones except for the 3rd and 4th and 7th and 8th

   minor diatonic scale, minor scale

   a diatonic scale with notes separated by whole tones except for the 2nd and 3rd and 5th and 6th

   C major, C major scale, scale of C major

   (music) the major scale having no sharps or flats

   type of:

   diatonic scale

   a scale with eight notes in an octave; all but two are separated by whole tones
5. noun

   a classification of propositions on the basis of whether they claim necessity or possibility or impossibility
   synonyms: modality

   type of:

   logical relation

   a relation between propositions
6. noun

   the most frequent value of a random variable
   synonyms: modal value

   type of:

   average, norm

   a statistic describing the location of a distribution