Modusvorm

Modusvorm is a Dutch term that translates roughly as “mode form” and is used in some Dutch-language linguistic and mathematical writings. The precise meaning is not standardized and depends on the author and discipline; in many contexts it serves as a general label for the form associated with a given modality or mode.

In linguistics, modusvorm most often refers to the morphological realization of a verb’s mood (modality). It encompasses the inflectional patterns, endings, stem changes, or periphrastic constructions that realize a particular mood across person, number, and tense. For languages with several distinct moods—such as indicative, subjunctive, and imperative—the modusvorm would be the set of forms that express that mood. In modern Dutch grammar, mood distinctions are less elaborated in everyday usage, but the concept remains in cross-linguistic descriptions and in textbooks on verb morphology.

In statistics or data analysis contexts, some authors use the term modusvorm to discuss the representation or visualization of the mode (the most frequent value) in a data set, or the shape of a distribution around the mode. However, this usage is not standard; the accepted terms are mode, modal value, or peak of the distribution.

Because of its peripheral and context-dependent usage, readers should verify the intended meaning in the source where modusvorm appears.