instrumentality
Americannoun
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instrumentalities
plural
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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.
See Examples For:
The simplest approach would be to amend the statutory language to stipulate that, similar to the GAO, the Federal Reserve is “an instrumentality of the United States Government independent of the executive departments.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
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
The debts and liabilities backed by Purdue “constitute an instrumentality of the state of Indiana for the purpose of the department’s regulations,” he said.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 6, 2017
Does the mind think apart from the brain, and then express its thought through the instrumentality of the brain?
From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 12 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Miscellany by Robert Green Ingersoll
In his ruling, Stein wrote that affidavits supporting requests for search warrants only needed to establish probable cause that searches would turn up “evidence, fruits, or instrumentalities of a crime.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 4, 2024
In an email sent by a spokeswoman on Monday, Kennedy described his statement as “a factual observation that technology has given an arsenal of frightening instrumentalities to totalitarian elements.”
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 24, 2022
Cars are instrumentalities of death and injury, not because producers and purchasers intend this, but because cars are involved in crashes and crashes cause death and injury.
From Slate ● Mar. 23, 2018
Valid, time-tested methods exist to allow law enforcement to seize contraband, profits and instrumentalities via legitimate criminal prosecution.
From Washington Post
They are not some untried and newly-invented instrumentalities.
From Money: Speech of Hon. John P. Jones, of Nevada, On the Free Coinage of Silver; in the United States Senate, May 12 and 13, 1890 by John P. (John Percival) Jones
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.
