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Definitions

instrument

[in-struh-muhnt] / ˈɪn strə mənt /




Usage

What are other ways to say instrument? An instrument is anything used in doing a certain type of work or producing a certain result, especially such as requires delicacy, accuracy, or precision: surgical or musical instruments. A tool is a contrivance held in and worked by the hand, for assisting the work of (especially) mechanics or skilled laborers: a carpenter's tools. An implement is any tool or contrivance designed or used for a particular purpose: agricultural implements. A utensil is especially an article for domestic use: kitchen utensils. 

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.

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It’s hard when you’ve spent 32 years of your adult life with Peter Buck — it’s hard to find someone who has that same enthusiasm and love of the instrument.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

The satellite's ocean and land color instrument has already delivered detailed images of landscapes and coastlines, while its radar altimeter has produced encouraging measurements of ocean and ice sheet elevations.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

It would also examine why the Cali Fund -- a UN financial instrument launched in February 2025 aiming to attract $1 billion a year in corporate contributions -- had raised only $6,000.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

The code has evolved from an instrument designed to create wealth to one designed to preserve it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

When the prolonged shaking knocked out power lines, backup generators clicked on to run the plant’s instrument panels and keep critical coolant moving through the reactors.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

Scientists measure Antarctic sea ice using satellites equipped with instruments called passive microwave sensors.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

The team expects future observations using multiple wavelengths and similarly precise instruments to uncover a wider range of elements in exoplanet atmospheres.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

Shylock’s pound of flesh invokes this divine commandment, which would have been familiar to everyone in early modern Europe as governments began using bonds as financial instruments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Sentinel-3's different instruments observe ice in complementary ways, helping scientists better understand changes across these vulnerable polar environments.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

I use my laboratory instruments to scan the air to analyze its particles.

From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga

The Blue Origin spacecraft will also carry an instrumented lunar surface spacesuit mass simulator.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026

Then we browsed the For You page feed for each sockpuppet, recording what we saw via WebArchive.page, a specially instrumented web browser that archives all the data involved in a browsing session locally.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 30, 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


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