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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 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 longer the life of a debt instrument, the more investors are left exposed to changes in interest rates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

Another important instrument will be a short-period seismometer, designed to detect vibrations and seismic activity, including moonquakes.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

Production, instrument and mechanical technicians are among those set to walk out for a total of six days in October and November, beginning with a two-day walk-out which started at midnight.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

Looking back, if I’d known that playing the cello would make me an outcast on my street, I’d have never picked up the instrument.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

Local schools may take musical instruments gathering dust in your basement or attic as they did for me.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

It’s so immediately distinctive: 0 to 60 in five seconds, instant energy, a handful of guitar notes before all of the instruments rev up.

From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026

A hospital monitor’s flat-line drone dissolved into an orchestral beginning, suggesting a return to life; hand-drum rhythms injected Mexican flavor, while bells and mallet instruments supplied some otherworldly touches.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

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

The pitchfork tines straightened, and all the instruments returned to their original places.

From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack

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

When NASA’s most powerful rocket ever attempts its first flight this month, its highest profile payload will be three instrumented mannequins, setting off on a 42-day journey beyond the Moon and back.

From Science Magazine ● Aug. 15, 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




Vocabulary lists containing instrument


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