modifier

noun

1. One who, or that which, modifies.
2. A word, phrase, or clause that limits or qualifies the sense of another word or phrase. (It may be any of the following: an adjective phrase, an adverb phrase, a prepositional phrase, a noun phrase, or a subordinate clause.)
3. A keyword that qualifies the meaning of other code.

   “The protected modifier makes a class member visible to subclasses, but not to external code.”

4. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Ellipsis of modifier key.