instrument
a mechanical tool or implement, especially one used for delicate or precision work: surgical instruments.
a contrivance or apparatus for producing musical sounds: a stringed instrument.
a means by which something is effected or done; agency: an instrument of government.
a device for measuring the present value of a quantity under observation.
a mechanical or electronic measuring device, especially one used in navigation: landing a plane by instruments.
a formal legal document, as a draft or bond: negotiable instruments.
a person used by another merely as a means to some private end; tool or dupe.
to equip with instruments, as a machine or manufacturing process: to instrument a space vehicle.
to arrange a composition for musical instruments; orchestrate.
Origin of instrument
1Other words from instrument
- un·der·in·stru·ment, noun
Words Nearby instrument
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use instrument in a sentence
It carries a host of scientific instruments to observe the sun and its surroundings.
Close-up of the sun reveals ‘campfires’ | Lisa Grossman | August 28, 2020 | Science News For StudentsThese are financial instruments that insurers and reinsurance companies use to hedge their own risk—and which specialized funds and hedge funds often invest in for their potential outsized returns.
Insurers are getting nervous as Hurricane Laura is set to make landfall as a powerful Category 4 storm | Jeremy Kahn | August 26, 2020 | FortuneOnce you’ve taught 250 seventh graders to play instruments in unison, everything else is pretty straightforward.
Who is Dave Clark, the new chief of Amazon’s giant retail business? | Aaron Pressman | August 22, 2020 | FortuneSo, no, I don’t have all the instruments to force companies to do so.
Major instruments use large, curved mirrors to capture the light raining down from the night sky.
Law has been rebuilt in the last 50 years to be an instrument of control, not a framework for human responsibility.
And the chord structure, for those of you who play an instrument, is unexpected and worth checking out.
Even his signature instrument, Auto-Tune, has become as accepted an ingredient in hip-hop as the drum machine.
Future Makes Us Rethink Everything We Thought We Knew About Rap Artists | Luke Hopping | December 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTNo matter how admirable or inspiring his message appears to be, it often hits you over the head like a blunt instrument.
Catch Him If You Can: Reliving Banksy’s New York Invasion | Alex Suskind | November 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSisler is described as a “Medical/Surgical instrument technician” in his own court declaration.
Patients Screwed in Spine Surgery ‘Scam’ | The Center for Investigative Reporting | November 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI called it a spinet, because it somewhat resembled that instrument, and was played upon in the same manner.
Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan SwiftA fancy came into my head that I would entertain the king and queen with an English tune upon this instrument.
Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan SwiftWhere these overtones are interfered with by any imperfection in the instrument the result is a harsh or imperfect sound.
Expressive Voice Culture | Jessie Eldridge SouthwickThe sun when he appeareth shewing forth at his rising, an admirable instrument, the work of the most High.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version | VariousThe von Fleischl has long been the standard instrument, but has lately fallen into some disfavor.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd
British Dictionary definitions for instrument
a mechanical implement or tool, esp one used for precision work: surgical instrument
music any of various contrivances or mechanisms that can be played to produce musical tones or sounds
an important factor or agency in something: her evidence was an instrument in his arrest
informal a person used by another to gain an end; dupe; tool
a measuring device, such as a pressure gauge or ammeter
a device or system for use in navigation or control, esp of aircraft
(as modifier): instrument landing
a formal legal document
Origin of instrument
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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