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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.

See Examples For:

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

“It is a good idea to put forward a new instrument that can be enacted faster,” said Oliver Richtberg, the head of foreign trade at European machine manufacturers’ association VDMA.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

But as time went on, he found that directors were always casting him in roles that required him to play an instrument, so he decided to make music his main focus.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

Scientists expect to release images and spectra from some of Juice's instruments in the coming weeks, once the data have reached Earth and instrument teams have had time to evaluate them.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2026

Were you influenced by what instrument other girls or boys or professional musicians were playing?

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

It is the large pool of domestic institutional and retail money, flowing into instruments like mutual funds, that have helped the markets avoid a sharper fall.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

For some traded instruments, buying when a golden cross appears, or selling when its opposite — a “death cross” — appears can be hit or miss.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

It was the first time Michigan had lost this contest in the Twin Cities since 1977, when local teen Prince Rogers Nelson was playing all the instruments on his first album.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Changing the spacecraft's trajectory was the primary purpose of the flyby, but the encounter also gave the mission team a valuable chance to test Juice's science instruments using a real planetary target.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2026

Classroom instruments are much more than noisemakers to accompany songs.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

Because of these risks, the landslide area has been extensively instrumented since 2020.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 2025

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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