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
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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:
Parts of Herefordshire for instance have only received a tenth of the rainfall they would normally have seen by mid-October so far this month.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
He also can’t recall a single instance where he couldn’t find a sick bag in his seat on a Southwest flight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Bass, for instance, oversaw the reappointment of McDonnell’s predecessor, Michel Moore, shortly after her election and stood by him for a year before Moore’s abrupt resignation in early 2024.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
For instance, the line “The medicine will help you to: Kill as many myeloma cells as possible” was mistranslated as instructing the patient to somehow kill as many myeloma cells as possible.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
For instance, this morning she was saying “Gack!” over and over, which probably meant, “Look at that mysterious figure emerging from the fog!”
From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket
However, Indian media have reported cases in West Bengal in which people excluded from voter rolls were later detained and, in some instances, pushed across the border into Bangladesh.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
In our 16+ years living in Cuenca, we have seen innumerable instances of people arriving with the intent of never living in the United States again.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
In some instances, federal agencies have mounted criminal cases against recipients of taxpayer money earmarked for homelessness services.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
While other AI models were implicated in certain other instances, most known cases were associated with OpenAI’s chatbot, and in particular the GPT-4o model, which was in service from May 2024 until early this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
In at least two instances, we are told of a village or castle that kept one of the great worms at bay by offering it a trough of milk every day.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
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
In harmony with this was his uniform seriousness, gravity, and becoming dignity of manner; and even in his merry-making humor, as instanced in describing Hayne leading the South Carolina militia, he never stooped.
From The Brothers' War by John Calvin Reed
And while thus thinking, I remembered that the ingenious author has instanced the rainbow as affording a variety of illustrations, and capable, in the imagery which it suggests, of numerous combinations.
From The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness Being a Complete Guide for a Gentleman's Conduct in all his Relations Towards Society by Cecil B. Hartley
On this occasion the admiral was at great pains to explain the nature of this phenomenon to the people, by instancing the example of Etna and several other known volcanos.
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
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
The Vanderpools were sure of this and the Englishman, instancing India, became quite eloquent.
From The Quest of the Silver Fleece A Novel by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois
In reply to his denunciations the suitors accuse Penelope of deluding them, instancing how she promised to choose a husband as soon as she had finished weaving a winding sheet for her father-in-law Laertes.
From The Book of the Epic by H. A. (Hélène Adeline) Guerber
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