instrument
Americannoun
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instruments
plural
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a mechanical tool or implement, especially one used for delicate or precision work.
surgical instruments.
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a contrivance or apparatus for producing musical sounds.
a stringed instrument.
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a means by which something is effected or done; agency.
an instrument of government.
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a device for measuring the present value of a quantity under observation.
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a mechanical or electronic measuring device, especially one used in navigation.
landing a plane by instruments.
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a formal legal document, as a draft or bond.
negotiable instruments.
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a person used by another merely as a means to some private end; tool or dupe.
verb (used with object)
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instruments,
present (3rd person singular)
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instrumented,
past participle, past
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instrumenting
present participle
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to equip with instruments, as a machine or manufacturing process.
to instrument a space vehicle.
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to arrange a composition for musical instruments; orchestrate.
noun
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a mechanical implement or tool, esp one used for precision work
surgical instrument
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music any of various contrivances or mechanisms that can be played to produce musical tones or sounds
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an important factor or agency in something
her evidence was an instrument in his arrest
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informal a person used by another to gain an end; dupe; tool
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a measuring device, such as a pressure gauge or ammeter
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a device or system for use in navigation or control, esp of aircraft
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( as modifier )
instrument landing
-
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a formal legal document
verb
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another word for orchestrate
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to equip with instruments
Usage
What are other ways to say instrument? An instrument is a mechanical contrivance, especially one used for delicate or precision work. When should you use this noun over tool, implement, or utensil? Learn more on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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instrumentsimple
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instrumentssimple
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have instrumentedperfect
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has instrumentedperfect
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am instrumentingprogressive
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are instrumentingprogressive
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is instrumentingprogressive
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have been instrumentingperfect progressive
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has been instrumentingperfect progressive
Past
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instrumentedsimple
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had instrumentedperfect
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was instrumentingprogressive
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were instrumentingprogressive
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had been instrumentingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of instrument
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Latin instrūmentum equipment, equivalent to instrū-, stem of instruere “to equip” ( see instruct) + -mentum -ment
Explanation
An instrument is usually a tool for making music, like a piano or a guitar, but it can also be used for almost any kind of tool or thing you use to get something done. A thermometer is an instrument for measuring temperature. A violin is an instrument used for making music. Recent economic woes were blamed on the abuse of certain financial instruments, which is just a fancy way of saying "deals." Your eye is a very sensitive light-collecting instrument, though you'll need a man-made instrument, like an X-ray telescope, if you want to see light outside of the visible spectrum.
Vocabulary lists containing instrument
Macbeth's "Is this a dagger..." soliloquy
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List 3
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John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961
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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:
But changing who holds the instrument does not necessarily change the music.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
His vision eventually led to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a gigantic scientific instrument embedded within roughly one cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026
Activists, many of them associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, mounted a backlash to psychiatry as an instrument of social control.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
The instrument had a key role to play in Michael's reinvention from teen pop idol to serious solo artist.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Musically, the shape of the instrument is important since the shape is directly related to sound and sound production.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Bombardier logged a $94 million loss on certain financial instruments in the quarter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
The upgrade is expected to extend the operating lives of Voyager 1's remaining scientific instruments, allowing the spacecraft to continue collecting valuable information from interstellar space longer than previously expected.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026
Using humor and social trends, the sisters filmed themselves wearing matching outfits, dancing in sync or playing instruments, including the guitar, banjo, fiddle and mandolin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
But INES, Germany's gas storage industry association, said missing the deadline was a "clear signal that the instruments for ensuring winter preparedness need to be further developed".
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
When they reached the FARM, Sydney was looking at a Stevenson screen, a wooden box with slats that sat on a pole like an oversize birdhouse and held weather instruments.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
Because of these risks, the landslide area has been extensively instrumented since 2020.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 2025
Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands, a U.S. naval facility, is the world's largest instrumented, "multi-dimensional" testing and training missile range, according to the U.S.
From Fox News ● Feb. 22, 2022
"This is the most heavily instrumented vehicle we will ever fly so we will get a tremendous amount of engineering data on vibration and temperature and stress, acoustics," said Mr Shannon.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2021
“We’ve got bad-actor volcanoes that aren’t optimally instrumented to the level that they should be,” he said.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 15, 2020
We are unlikely to determine the answer to this question without landing instrumented space vehicles on the Titanian surface.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
“We are instrumenting the car in a way that is overloading the driver just like we were overloading the helicopter pilots,” said Strayer, director of the university’s Center for the Prevention of Distracted Driving.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2022
This can be a result of budgetary constraints, the difficulty of instrumenting treacherous volcanoes and, in some cases, red tape preventing the placement of sensors in wilderness areas.
From New York Times ● Nov. 9, 2021
“And we need to rethink what this instrumenting of the world — all that data being generated and collected — means for privacy and how all this data is used.”
From New York Times ● Aug. 4, 2015
Yet little has been done to probe the underlying crust and mantle, mainly because instrumenting the entire state is so expensive.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 5, 2013
Niels and I get to work carefully instrumenting the sleep logger and attaching it to the bird.
From New York Times ● Apr. 15, 2011
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