instance
Americannoun
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instances
plural
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a case or occurrence of anything.
fresh instances of oppression.
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an example put forth in proof or illustration.
to cite a few instances.
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Also called instanced dungeon. (in an online multiplayer video game) a zone, as a dungeon, to which access is limited to a player or group of players entering simultaneously and working together: each instance is one copy of the zone in which the quests, enemies, items, events, etc., are staged exclusively for the player or group accessing it, without interference from other player characters in the larger online population of the game server.
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Law. the institution and prosecution of a case.
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Archaic. urgency in speech or action.
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Obsolete. an impelling motive.
verb (used with object)
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instances,
present (3rd person singular)
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instanced,
past participle, past
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instancing
present participle
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to cite as an instance or example.
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to exemplify by an instance.
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(in an online multiplayer video game) to design (a zone) as a set of identical copies, staged exclusively for the player or group accessing it, without interference from the larger population of the game server, thereby presenting key narrative elements or achievements in a controlled environment.
The game developers instanced a winter wonderland with special quests for the holiday event.
verb (used without object)
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instances,
present (3rd person singular)
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instanced,
past participle, past
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instancing
present participle
idioms
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at the instance of, at the urging or suggestion of.
He applied for the assistantship at the instance of his professor.
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for instance, as an example; for example.
If you were to go to Italy, for instance, you would get a different perspective on our culture.
noun
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a case or particular example
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for or as an example
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a specified stage in proceedings; step (in the phrases in the first, second, etc, instance )
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urgent request or demand (esp in the phrase at the instance of )
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logic
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an expression derived from another by instantiation
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See substitution
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archaic motive or reason
verb
Synonym Usage
See case 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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instancesimple
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instancessimple
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have instancedperfect
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has instancedperfect
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am instancingprogressive
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are instancingprogressive
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is instancingprogressive
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have been instancingperfect progressive
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has been instancingperfect progressive
Past
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instancedsimple
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had instancedperfect
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was instancingprogressive
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were instancingprogressive
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had been instancingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of instance
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English instaunce, from Middle French instance, from Medieval Latin īnstantia “case, example” ( Latin “presence, immediate applicability; earnestness, urgency”); see origin at instant, -ance
Explanation
An instance is a specific example or case of something. One instance of being chased by a growling dog can make a person spend his whole life being afraid of animals. It's common to find instance used in the expression "for instance," meaning "for example." Bright colors — for instance, pink, green, and blue — can cheer you up when you're feeling sad. Instance can also mean "occurrence." Several instances of cheating might be reported after a math test, for example. In the sixteenth century, the Medieval Latin word instantia meant "example to the contrary," leading to an early definition of instance as "single objection."
Vocabulary lists containing instance
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Commonly Confused Words, List 2
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Commonly Confused Words, List 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The first instance was around the same period a year ago.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
For instance, an association covering single-family housing doesn’t deal with issues such as environmental risks or maintenance of things like boardwalks that a single-family beach HOA may have to tackle.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
For almost 20 years there has been talk of councils working together more closely to share overheads and cut duplication - for instance sharing responsibility for road maintenance or back office functions.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
Patrick Whitesell, for instance, who was married to Lauren Sánchez Bezos before she got together with Jeff Bezos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
For instance, Genesis 49:10 states, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah...until Shiloh come.”
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
AI titans Anthropic, OpenAI and Google - the tech companies behind Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, respectively - have also disclosed instances of security breaches or incidents in which their chatbots were used for "malicious activity".
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
And in “The Pineapple’s” best instances, it created a sense of personal intimacy with its performers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
The company then reported on six instances of “unexpected or concerning” behavior they’ve noted in the last six months.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
The most visible instances are the five task forces he’s established on matters such as the central bank’s balance sheet and its inflation models, and his refusal to provide forward guidance about future policy moves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Other instances are Eli Whitney’s 1794 invention of his cotton gin to replace laborious hand cleaning of cotton grown in the U.S.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
As such, players can expect to wait longer than normal to log into game servers, visit new Endwalker specific areas, and experience instanced content-like duties.
From The Verge ● Nov. 30, 2021
The FX we’d used earlier were now composed of millions of these instanced pieces, and she was having a hard time loading them all because it took up so much memory.
From The Verge ● Jan. 30, 2019
World and all the other potential character builds and instanced stories in the offing.
From Time ● Sep. 11, 2012
The truth of these observations is strikingly instanced in a story told of Franklin in Pettigrew's Life of Lettsom.
From Benjamin Franklin; Self-Revealed, Volume II (of 2) A Biographical and Critical Study Based Mainly on his own Writings by Wiliam Cabell Bruce
That landscape painting may be of considerable value in assisting scientific exploration is instanced by an anecdote related to the writer by a geological friend.
From Art Principles With Special Reference to Painting Together with Notes on the Illusions Produced by the Painter by Ernest Govett
It were easy to proceed from Maine to California instancing the remote centuries that are daily colliding within our domain, but this is enough to show how little we cohere in opinions.
From Red Men and White by Frederic Remington
Landgraf supports his position by instancing similarities of expression in the Bell.
From The Student's Companion to Latin Authors by George Middleton
Mencius, instancing the practice of the ancient kings Wan and Woo under similar circumstances, replies that, unless the voice of the people invites the invader to take possession, he is not justified in so doing.
From Ti-Ping Tien-Kwoh The History of the Ti-Ping Revolution (Volume I) by Augustus F. Lindley
He illustrates it by instancing the absence of a developed mode in Sanscrit, and maintains that in the creators of that tongue the conception of modality was never truly felt and distinguished from tense.
From The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages, as Set Forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt With the Translation of an Unpublished Memoir by Him on the American Verb by Daniel Garrison Brinton
This statement is truer than his later remark21 that fairies and other superhuman creations of fancy are substituted for animals, instancing our theme as such a case.
From The Grateful Dead The History of a Folk Story by Gordon Hall Gerould
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
