instrument
Americannoun
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instruments
plural
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a mechanical tool or implement, especially one used for delicate or precision work.
surgical instruments.
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a contrivance or apparatus for producing musical sounds.
a stringed instrument.
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a means by which something is effected or done; agency.
an instrument of government.
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a device for measuring the present value of a quantity under observation.
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a mechanical or electronic measuring device, especially one used in navigation.
landing a plane by instruments.
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a formal legal document, as a draft or bond.
negotiable instruments.
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a person used by another merely as a means to some private end; tool or dupe.
verb (used with object)
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instruments,
present (3rd person singular)
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instrumented,
past participle, past
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instrumenting
present participle
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to equip with instruments, as a machine or manufacturing process.
to instrument a space vehicle.
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to arrange a composition for musical instruments; orchestrate.
noun
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a mechanical implement or tool, esp one used for precision work
surgical instrument
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music any of various contrivances or mechanisms that can be played to produce musical tones or sounds
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an important factor or agency in something
her evidence was an instrument in his arrest
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informal a person used by another to gain an end; dupe; tool
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a measuring device, such as a pressure gauge or ammeter
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a device or system for use in navigation or control, esp of aircraft
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( as modifier )
instrument landing
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a formal legal document
verb
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another word for orchestrate
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to equip with instruments
Usage
What are other ways to say instrument? An instrument is a mechanical contrivance, especially one used for delicate or precision work. When should you use this noun over tool, implement, or utensil? Learn more on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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instrumentsimple
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instrumentssimple
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have instrumentedperfect
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has instrumentedperfect
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am instrumentingprogressive
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are instrumentingprogressive
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is instrumentingprogressive
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have been instrumentingperfect progressive
-
has been instrumentingperfect progressive
Past
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instrumentedsimple
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had instrumentedperfect
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was instrumentingprogressive
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were instrumentingprogressive
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had been instrumentingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of instrument
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Latin instrūmentum equipment, equivalent to instrū-, stem of instruere “to equip” ( see instruct) + -mentum -ment
Explanation
An instrument is usually a tool for making music, like a piano or a guitar, but it can also be used for almost any kind of tool or thing you use to get something done. A thermometer is an instrument for measuring temperature. A violin is an instrument used for making music. Recent economic woes were blamed on the abuse of certain financial instruments, which is just a fancy way of saying "deals." Your eye is a very sensitive light-collecting instrument, though you'll need a man-made instrument, like an X-ray telescope, if you want to see light outside of the visible spectrum.
Vocabulary lists containing instrument
Macbeth's "Is this a dagger..." soliloquy
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List 3
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John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961
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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:
I definitely place more weight on ideas versus the discipline of playing an instrument.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Finally, the drive-mode icon in the instrument display turned from EV mode to hybrid mode.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
She finally gave up the viola only when her instrument was stolen from her apartment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
The Mars flyby, however, marked the first time the instrument measured the magnetic signature of a celestial body.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
He tuned the instrument, put it under his chin, and started to play.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
Insurers held about $480 billion worth of privately rated debt instruments in 2025, more than 10 times their $47 billion value in 2018, when companies first began disclosing their use, the Journal’s analysis shows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
She's developed a new-found a love for traditional Irish music saying: "It's awesome. I love seeing all the instruments, I love the music."
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
"We used a novel experimental technique that combines specialized instruments in a way that effectively used the entire facility," Liddick said.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026
His parents didn’t agree, so he struggled with various cobbled-together instruments and learned songs by Buddy Holly and other rock pioneers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
On the third try, the pilot finally rose using his instruments alone—without being able to see anything out of the windows—to get them aloft.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
The Blue Origin spacecraft will also carry an instrumented lunar surface spacesuit mass simulator.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026
Then we browsed the For You page feed for each sockpuppet, recording what we saw via WebArchive.page, a specially instrumented web browser that archives all the data involved in a browsing session locally.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 30, 2023
Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands, a U.S. naval facility, is the world's largest instrumented, "multi-dimensional" testing and training missile range, according to the U.S.
From Fox News ● Feb. 22, 2022
"This is the most heavily instrumented vehicle we will ever fly so we will get a tremendous amount of engineering data on vibration and temperature and stress, acoustics," said Mr Shannon.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2021
We are unlikely to determine the answer to this question without landing instrumented space vehicles on the Titanian surface.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
“We are instrumenting the car in a way that is overloading the driver just like we were overloading the helicopter pilots,” said Strayer, director of the university’s Center for the Prevention of Distracted Driving.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2022
This can be a result of budgetary constraints, the difficulty of instrumenting treacherous volcanoes and, in some cases, red tape preventing the placement of sensors in wilderness areas.
From New York Times ● Nov. 9, 2021
“And we need to rethink what this instrumenting of the world — all that data being generated and collected — means for privacy and how all this data is used.”
From New York Times ● Aug. 4, 2015
Yet little has been done to probe the underlying crust and mantle, mainly because instrumenting the entire state is so expensive.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 5, 2013
Niels and I get to work carefully instrumenting the sleep logger and attaching it to the bird.
From New York Times ● Apr. 15, 2011
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.
