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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

One of Sentinel-3C's first images, captured on September 30 by its ocean and land color instrument, offers a remarkable natural-color view of Italy and its surrounding seas.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

One possibility would be for the European Commission to deploy a legal instrument known as the "blocking mechanism".

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 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

Musical activities such as singing, singing/vocalization, instrument play, movement/dance, musical improvisation, songwriting/composition, and listening to music, are types of musical therapy interventions to assess and help individuals practice identified skills.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

This agrees with earlier observations made by instruments studying the Moon remotely.

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

Its instruments have also begun measuring ocean heights and the elevation of Greenland's massive ice sheet, providing an early demonstration of technology designed to monitor Earth's changing climate.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

The satellites are equipped with matching sets of instruments that continuously gather information about the oceans, land, atmosphere, and cryosphere, which includes Earth's frozen regions.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

The hoosh pot was cleaned and scoured, filled with ice to melt, and once the water was boiling, the surgical instruments were sterilized.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

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

From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 2025

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’ve got bad-actor volcanoes that aren’t optimally instrumented to the level that they should be,” he said.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 15, 2020

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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