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modal verb

 noun
     
Related topics: Grammar
modal verb also modal [countable] technical
SLG one of these verb forms: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought to, used to, need, had better, and dare. They are all used with other verbs to express ideas such as possibility, permission, or intention [↪ auxiliary verb]
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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