instrument

From Middle English instrument, from Old French instrument, from Latin īnstrūmentum (“an implement, tool”), From īnstruō (“build, construct; arrange”) +‎ -mentum.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪnstɹəmənt/, /ˈɪnstɹʊmənt/
• Hyphenation: in‧stru‧ment

• Audio (US)

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instrument (plural instruments)

1. A device used to produce music.

   The violinist was a master of her instrument.

   • 1568, William Cornishe [i.e., William Cornysh], “In the Fleete Made by Me William Cornishe otherwise Called Nyshwhete Chapelman with the Most Famose and Noble Kyng Henry the VII. His Reygne the XIX. Yere the Moneth of July. A Treatise betwene Trouth, and Information.”, in John Skelton; J[ohn] S[tow], editor, Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate, Imprinted at London: In Fletestreate, neare vnto St Dunstan-in-the-West by Thomas Marshe, OCLC 54747393; republished as Pithy Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes of Maister Skelton, Poete Laureate to King Henry the VIIIth, London: Printed for C. Davis in Pater-noster Row, 1736, OCLC 731569711, page 290:

     The Harpe. […] A harper with his wreſt maye tune the harpe wrong / Mys tunying of an Inſtrument ſhal hurt a true ſonge

2. A means or agency for achieving an effect.
   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Tremarn Case‎:

     “There the cause of death was soon ascertained ; the victim of this daring outrage had been stabbed to death from ear to ear with a long, sharp instrument, in shape like an antique stiletto, which [...] was subsequently found under the cushions of the hansom. [...]”

   • 1963 January 11, “The World”, in Time‎, volume LXXXI, number 2, ISSN 0040-781X, OCLC 1311479, page 32, column 3:

     On the rocky island of Tungyin, 50 miles off the coast of Red China, is the headquarters of a little-known military unit called the Anti-Communist Salvation Army. The secret army, 30,000 strong, is Chiang Kai-shek's instrument for the long-promised return to the mainland.

3. A measuring or displaying device.

   The instrument detected an increase in radioactivity.

4. A tool, implement used for manipulation or measurement.

   The dentist set down his tray of instruments.

   The scientist recorded the temperature with a thermometer but wished he had a more accurate instrument.

   1. (aviation, usually in the plural) Ellipsis of flight instrument.

      Flight within clouds must be made by reference to your instruments.

5. (law) A legal document, such as a contract, deed, trust, mortgage, power, indenture, or will.

   A bond indenture is the instrument that gives a bond its value.

   Negotiable instruments are the foundation of the debt markets.

6. (figuratively) A person used as a mere tool for achieving a goal.
   • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene ii]:

     Or useful serving man and instrument, / To any sovereign state.

   • 1670, John Dryden, The Conquest of Granada

     The bold are but the instruments o' the wise.

• See also Thesaurus:instrument

instrument (third-person singular simple present instruments, present participle instrumenting, simple past and past participle instrumented)

1. (transitive) To apply measuring devices.

   an instrumented test article

2. (transitive) To devise, conceive, cook up, plan.
3. To perform upon an instrument; to prepare for an instrument.

   a sonata instrumented for orchestra

• (to apply measuring devices): measure, supervise
• (to devise, conceive):
• (to perform on an instrument): play
• (to prepare for an instrument): arrange

• instrumental

• nutriments

From Latin īnstrūmentum.

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ins.tɾuˈment/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /ins.tɾuˈmen/

instrument m (plural instruments)

1. instrument (clarification of this definition is needed)

• instrumental
• instrumentar

• “instrument” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “instrument”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “instrument” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “instrument” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

instrument n (singular definite instrumentet, plural indefinite instrumenter)

1. instrument
2. (music) musical instrument

   Synonym: musikinstrument

• “instrument” in Den Danske Ordbog

From Middle Dutch instrument, from Old French instrument, from Latin īnstrūmentum.

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪn.stryˈmɛnt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧stru‧ment
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

instrument n (plural instrumenten, diminutive instrumentje n)

1. instrument
2. (music) musical instrument

   Synonyms: muziekinstrument, speeltuig

From Middle French instrument, from Old French instrument, from Latin īnstrūmentum.

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃s.tʁy.mɑ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

instrument m (plural instruments)

1. instrument (clarification of this definition is needed)

• instrument à cordes
• instrument à vent
• instrument de musique

• “instrument”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• enstrement, instreument, jnstrument, ynstrument

Borrowed from Old French instrument, from Latin instrūmentum (“tool, device”).[1]

• IPA^(key): /instriu̯ˈmɛnt/, /instruˈmɛnt/, /ˈinstriu̯mɛnt/, /ˈinstrumɛnt/[2]

instrument (plural instrumentes)

1. A tool or device used for manipulation, especially for medical and scientific uses.
2. A device used to produce music; a musical instrument.
3. A piece of weaponry (such as a siege engine).
4. A legal document, such as a contract, deed or will.
5. The means by which one reaches an end or effect.
6. A body part that performs a certain function; an organ.
7. The human body as a whole.
8. One of the five senses.

• (music): organe; organum; simphane; symphonye

• instrumental

• English: instrument

instrument m (plural instrumens)

1. (musical) instrument
2. instrument (device, often mechanical)

instrument n (definite singular instrumentet, indefinite plural instrument or instrumenter, definite plural instrumenta or instrumentene)

1. an instrument

instrument n (definite singular instrumentet, indefinite plural instrument, definite plural instrumenta)

1. an instrument

From Latin īnstrūmentum ("an implement, tool").

• IPA^(key): /inˈstru.mɛnt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -umɛnt
• Syllabification: in‧stru‧ment

instrument m inan

1. instrument

• instrument in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• instrument in Polish dictionaries at PWN

From French instrument, from Latin instrumentum.

instrument n (plural instrumente)

1. instrument

• Audio

  (file)

instrument n

1. an instrument (of music, for measurement, method, tool, or financial contract), a device

• blåsinstrument
• instrumentalist
• instrumentbräda
• instrumentell
• instrumentera
• instrumentmakare
• instrumentpanel
• stråkinstrument
• stränginstrument

• stroment

Borrowed from Spanish instrumento.

instrument

1. musical instrument

• Long C., Rebecca; Cruz M., Sofronio (2000) Diccionario zapoteco de San Bartolomé Zoogocho, Oaxaca (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 38)‎ (in Spanish), second electronic edition, Coyoacán, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 236