instrumentality
Americannoun
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the quality or state of being instrumental.
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the fact or function of serving some purpose.
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a means or agency.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of instrumentality
First recorded in 1645–55; instrumental + -ity
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.
This issue is more complicated than most, in large measure because the industry directly affected is already accustomed to being an instrumentality of the federal government.
From Washington Times • May 14, 2023
“They are a sovereign instrumentality of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the filing said, adding the discovery order was “an extraordinary infringement on the sovereignty of a foreign state.”
From Seattle Times • Mar. 2, 2023
A listener neither strains to understand what’s being conveyed, nor feels defeated by overamplified instrumentality or inadequately interpreted lyrics.
From Washington Post • Jul. 29, 2022
"Whatever NSO's government customers do with its technology and services does not render NSO an 'agency or instrumentality of a foreign state,'" Forrest wrote.
From Reuters • Nov. 8, 2021
The Huns' carefully-laid plans had gone awry through Leslie Sefton's instrumentality.
From With Beatty off Jutland A Romance of the Great Sea Fight by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)
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.
