instrument
Americannoun
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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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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:
The certificates are a financial instrument that lets companies say they paid for clean electricity from the grid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
That distance was too great for the instrument to detect gamma rays coming from the planet, but scientists believed it might still register neutrons escaping from the Martian surface and atmosphere.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
"It's this instrument of resistance… where we can really share friendship, love and our voices can be heard," Steve Happi, the former inmate who co-founded Jail Time Records, tells the BBC's Talking Movies programme.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
“You can’t rule that out that she would have been holding the instrument that caused either of those wounds?” the attorney asked.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
In short, scientists say that nothing we do as humans uses more parts of our brain and is more complex than playing an instrument.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
A shorter horizon calls for bonds, and a very short one for money-market instruments.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
The encounter also offered mission scientists a rare chance to test the spacecraft's instruments around a well-studied planet.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
Counterterrorism tools are among the most powerful instruments the U.S. government possesses.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
But private money managers have been conjuring up new debt instruments faster than thinly stretched state insurance commissioners can rein them in, and the regulatory process sometimes resembles a game of whac-a-mole.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
On the third try, the pilot finally rose using his instruments alone—without being able to see anything out of the windows—to get them aloft.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
The Blue Origin spacecraft will also carry an instrumented lunar surface spacesuit mass simulator.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026
I worked at the facility from 1973 to 1976, and Metro’s 1000-series cars were instrumented and running around loops to identify problem areas.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 27, 2023
We're the only sport that has done this type of work with instrumented mouthguards.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2022
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
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
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.
