instance

American  

[in-stuhns] / ˈɪn stəns /

noun

• instances
  plural

1. a case or occurrence of anything.

   fresh instances of oppression.

2. an example put forth in proof or illustration.

   to cite a few instances.

3. 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.

4. Law. the institution and prosecution of a case.

5. Archaic. urgency in speech or action.

6. Obsolete. an impelling motive.

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verb (used with object)

• instances,
  present (3rd person singular)
• instanced,
  past participle,  past
• instancing
  present participle

1. to cite as an instance or example.

2. to exemplify by an instance.

3. (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)

• instances,
  present (3rd person singular)
• instanced,
  past participle,  past
• instancing
  present participle

1. to cite an instance.

idioms

1. at the instance of, at the urging or suggestion of.

   He applied for the assistantship at the instance of his professor.

2. 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.

instance British  

/ ˈɪnstəns /

noun

1. a case or particular example

2. for or as an example

3. a specified stage in proceedings; step (in the phrases in the first, second, etc, instance )

4. urgent request or demand (esp in the phrase at the instance of )

5. logic

   1. an expression derived from another by instantiation

   2. See substitution

6. archaic motive or reason

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verb

1. to cite as an example

instance More Idioms  

1. see under for example.

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Synonym Usage

See case ¹.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• counterinstance
  noun
• uninstanced
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• instances
  plural

Participles

• instancing
  present
• instanced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• instance
  simple
• instances
  simple
• have instanced
  perfect
• has instanced
  perfect
• am instancing
  progressive
• are instancing
  progressive
• is instancing
  progressive
• have been instancing
  perfect progressive
• has been instancing
  perfect progressive

Past

• instanced
  simple
• had instanced
  perfect
• was instancing
  progressive
• were instancing
  progressive
• had been instancing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will instance
  simple
• will have instanced
  perfect
• will be instancing
  progressive
• will have been instancing
  perfect progressive

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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

instance instances instanced instancing

In this instance, Boeing "fixed a known bug" but introduced "a new bug, smaller."

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

For instance, half of districts included math performance, according to an Assembly Education Committee analysis.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

But Kaufmann says there are still some things Europe’s carmakers, for instance, could learn from Leica.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

At Västerhus, for instance, men and women were generally buried on different sides of the churchyard.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 27, 2026

They’d often wondered, for instance, why the rating agencies weren’t more critical of bonds underpinned by floating-rate subprime mortgages.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Mexico has complied in some instances, raising tariffs “as high as 50% for steel products and other goods from countries, like China, with which it does not have a free trade agreement.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

In other instances, the AI agents showed "misalignment" in attempts to get at information from websites.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

In the alley behind the home, officers found more instances of vandalism, the statement said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

Instead, she may be interacting with her own instances of patient-zero-dom.

From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026

And I knew that my father’s father was dead and that my uncle Oscar was dead and that my uncle David was dead and that each of these instances was unnatural.

From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

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

They instanced a woman who had been married to seven brothers in succession, all of whom had died.

From Ludicrous Aspects Of Christianity A Response To The Challenge Of The Bishop Of Manchester by Austin Holyoak

However, except of late, a precedent of this practice can hardly be instanced among the sufferers of Christ in former times, but, on the contrary, many have refused such offers.

From A Hind Let Loose Or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland for the Interest of Christ. With the True State Thereof in All Its Periods by Alexander Shields

He had to show what he knew of publishers, instancing the Longmans. 

From George Borrow in East Anglia by William A. (William Alfred) Dutt

The book is in a way one of purpose, inculcating the danger of wooing opera-girls, and instancing it with three very weak young men, another duke, a rich young parvenu, and a musician.

From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century by George Saintsbury

Captain Cathie, in one of his bluffer moments, bluntly suggested wholesale marriage as a preventive of irregularities, and the starting of a new race on that basis, instancing the Pitcairners as typical resultants.

From White Fire by John Oxenham

What arguments in regard to a nation of forty-seven millions of people can be bolstered up by instancing the imperfect acquaintance of a Japanese pastry-cook with the English language?

From The Empire of the East by H. B. (Helen Barrett) Montgomery

Communication is no longer by words, but by the instancing of whole biographies, epics, systems of philosophy, and epochs of history, in bulk. 

From Memories and Portraits by Robert Louis Stevenson

Related Words

• detail
• example
• item
• occasion
• occurrence
• particular
• precedent
• proof
• reason