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
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
It is probable, therefore, that we shall find an instrumentality of this sort prompting us to morality.
From A Review of the Systems of Ethics Founded on the Theory of Evolution by C. M. Williams
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
The statute granting a limited waiver of sovereign immunity provides that “corporations primarily acting as instrumentalities or agencies of the state, counties, or municipalities” also enjoy immunity.
From Slate ● Apr. 15, 2020
Valid, time-tested methods exist to allow law enforcement to seize contraband, profits and instrumentalities via legitimate criminal prosecution.
From Washington Post
They are as old as religion, and have been found wherever evidence of religious rites of any description have been found, as they constituted part of the instrumentalities of such rites.
From Inventions in the Century by William Henry Doolittle
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.
