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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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:
Fiddelke, for instance, had been in five or six different roles during his time working with Cornell.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, for instance, was cautious when the attorney for the prison nurse pushed the court to move on from its incrementalist attacks on Bivens and Carlson and overrule the cases outright already.
From Slate ● Nov. 10, 2026
"I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement - by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labour, for instance," Vance wrote in a lengthy online post reflecting on the results.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2026
For instance, the crew built the “Nunavut arm,” a jib mounted on a pickup truck’s flatbed to capture wide outdoor shots.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
You couldn’t supply foreign warships with fuel, for instance, and you couldn’t ship guns to foreign armies.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
Larcker has studied instances of CEOs having relationships with subordinates or outside contractors, and he has also looked at strong-willed tech founders like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2026
After several instances of apparent police brutality against AFP reporters covering the protests, the international news agency on Friday urged protection for its journalists.
From Barron's ● Nov. 7, 2026
She said the documents would be reviewed and in some instances may need to be redacted "for the purposes of avoiding prejudice to national security or international relations".
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
“They very rarely get used, but there’s many instances where tenants are being harassed by corporate landlords,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
Evidently, these columns were rarely to Lord Darlington's liking, for I can recall numerous instances of his looking up from a journal and saying something like: 'Young Reggie writing such nonsense again.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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 art—his "Lectures," "Notes to Pilkington's Dictionary," his "Aphorisms," and "The Fragment of a History of Art," may be instanced.
From The Life and Writings of Henry Fuseli, Volume I (of 3) by John Knowles
Among these may be instanced Montalembert's "Monks of the West" and Brown's "History of the printing press in Venice," previously cited.
From Copyright: Its History and Its Law by Richard Rogers Bowker
Give me leave to show the inimitable softness and sweetness of the English Tongue, only by instancing in one Word.
From A Full Enquiry into the Nature of the Pastoral (1717) by Thomas Purney
He had to show what he knew of publishers, instancing the Longmans.
From George Borrow in East Anglia by William A. (William Alfred) Dutt
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
He states also that the verse writer who aims at producing no illusion but addresses the understanding is not a poet, instancing Virgil when in the Georgics he describes a cow fit for breeding.
From The Literature of Ecstasy by Albert Mordell
He proved his wonderful theory by instancing a child playing with its mother, a symphony of Beethoven, and the life of Socrates!
From Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic by Benedetto Croce
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
