modifier

noun ! Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about modifier at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

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.