1. each of a set of standardized parts or independent units that can be used to construct a more complex structure, such as an item of furniture or a building.
▪ an independent self-contained unit of a spacecraft.
▪ any of a number of distinct but interrelated units from which a program may be built up or into which a complex activity may be analyzed.
Word Originlate 16th century (in the senses ‘allotted scale’ and ‘plan, model’): from French, or from Latin modulus (see modulus). Current senses date from the 1950s.
