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instrument - definition and meaning
instrument
love
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A tool or implement used to do or facilitate work, especially a small precision tool used by a professional.
- noun A device for recording, measuring, or controlling, especially such a device functioning as part of a control system.
- noun Music A device for playing or producing music.
- noun A means by which something is done; an agency.
- noun One used by another to accomplish a purpose; a dupe.
- noun A legal document, especially one that represents a right of payment or conveys an interest, such as a check, promissory note, deed, or will.
- transitive verb To provide or equip with instruments.
- transitive verb Music To compose or arrange for performance.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In music, to compose or arrange for instruments, especially for an orchestra; score.
- noun Something that serves as a means to the effecting of an end; anything that contributes to the production of an effect or the accomplishment of a purpose; a means; an agency.
- noun Specifically Something used to produce a mechanical effect; a contrivance with which to perform mechanical work of any kind; a tool, implement, utensil, or machine.
- noun Specifically In music, a mechanical contrivance or apparatus for producing musical sounds—that is, for setting up, either in a solid body or in a confined body of air, vibrations sufficiently rapid, regular, and definite to produce tones systematically related to one another.
- noun One who is used by another; a human tool.
- noun In law, a writing given as the means of creating, securing, modifying, or terminating a right, or affording evidence, as a writing containing the terms of a contract, a deed of conveyance, a grant, a patent, an indenture, etc.
- noun See the adjectives. Synonyms Implement, Utensil, etc. See
tool .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To perform upon an instrument; to prepare for an instrument.
- transitive verb To furnish or equip with instruments; to attach instruments to.
- noun That by means of which any work is performed, or result is effected; a tool; a utensil; an implement; a device
- noun A contrivance or implement, by which musical sounds are produced.
- noun (Law) A writing, as the means of giving formal expression to some act; a writing expressive of some act, contract, process, as a deed, contract, writ, etc.
- noun One who, or that which, is made a means, or is caused to serve a purpose; a medium, means, or agent.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
device used to producemusic . - noun A
measuring or displaying device. - noun A
tool ,implement used for manipulation or measurement - noun law A legal document, such as a
contract ,deed ,trust ,mortgage ,power ,indenture , orwill . - noun figuratively A person used as a mere tool for achieving a goal.
- verb transitive To apply measuring devices.
- verb transitive To devise, conceive,
cook up , plan. - verb To perform upon an instrument; to prepare for an instrument.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb write an instrumental score for
- verb address a legal document to
- noun the semantic role of the entity (usually inanimate) that the agent uses to perform an action or start a process
- noun the means whereby some act is accomplished
- noun a person used by another to gain an end
- noun (law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right
- verb equip with instruments for measuring, recording, or controlling
- noun any of various devices or contrivances that can be used to produce musical tones or sounds
- noun a device that requires skill for proper use
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin īnstrūmentum, tool, implement, from īnstruere, to prepare; see instruct.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Latin īnstrūmentum ("an implement, tool"). suffix -mentum.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word instrument.
Examples
-
In addition to the health hazards of ringing ears and thundering headaches, a by-product of mindlessly blowing on this instrument is the accumulation of a huge amount of saliva.
Global Voices in English » South Africa: To vuvuzela or not to vuvuzela? 2009
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I'd have to suffer for the song your instrument is a canvas on which metaphors are composed my absurd white masterpiece breaks with raw passion as she balances more paint on her glorious nude silhouette
Archive 2007-09-01 pixel bailey 2007
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I'd have to suffer for the song your instrument is a canvas on which metaphors are composed my absurd white masterpiece breaks with raw passion as she balances more paint on her glorious nude silhouette
poem on the wall pixel bailey 2007
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Jelly: I don't know if it can be "air" if the instrument is actually there.
Feel the Rhythm lili 2006
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W e expect more from singers than we do from instrumentalists, because words speak to us in a way no trumpet or saxophone can — and because their instrument is also ours.
The Singing Epidemic 2006
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Jelly: I don't know if it can be "air" if the instrument is actually there.
Archive 2006-05-01 lili 2006
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Its inventor, Dr. Beverly B. McCollum of Los Angeles, Calif., demonstrates in the picture at the right how the instrument is then mounted for use in tooling a plate to just the right shape to give the most comfortable fit in the mouth.
2006 August 2006
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W e expect more from singers than we do from instrumentalists, because words speak to us in a way no trumpet or saxophone can — and because their instrument is also ours.
The Singing Epidemic 2006
-
W e expect more from singers than we do from instrumentalists, because words speak to us in a way no trumpet or saxophone can — and because their instrument is also ours.
The Singing Epidemic 2006
-
They asked him to let them smoke in _the pipe_, which was the name by which he called the instrument with the little bowl.
Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 (of 3) James Athearn Jones
Related Words
synonyms (440)
Words with the same meaning
- Bourdon tube
- Charlie McCarthy
- Danish balance
- Federal
- Gramophone
- Gyropilot
- Mach meter
- Roman balance
- Teletype
- Weightometer
- X-ray machine
- absolute altimeter
- accelerometer
- adapt
- aerial reconnaissance camera
- aerometer
- aeroscope
- agency
- agent
- air log
- alloy balance
- altigraph
- altimeter
- amanuensis
- ammeter
- analytical balance
- ancilla
- anemograph
- anemometer
- anemoscope
- aneroid
- antler
- apparatus
- apple-polisher
- appliance
- arrange
- aspirator
- ass-licker
- assay balance
- autograph
- automatic pilot
- autosyn
- awl
- backslapper
- baggage agent
- balance
- balance of precision
- barb
- barbed wire
- barblet
- barbule
- barbwire
- barometer
- barrel scale
- beam
- bedpan
- blank
- bodkin
- bombing locator
- bombsight
- bootlick
- bootlicker
- bradawl
- brown-nose
- brownie
- bullion balance
- business agent
- calorimeter
- caltrop
- card compass
- carpet tack
- cash register
- catalyst
- catheter
- channel
- cheval-de-frise
- chirograph
- chromatoscope
- chronograph
- chronometer
- chuck
- claim agent
- clamp
- clasp
- clawback
- clerk
- clinch
- clinical thermometer
- clip
- cockspur
- commercial agent
- commission agent
- compact
- compass
- compose
- consignee
- contract
- contraption
- contrivance
- control rod
- counter scale
- courtier
- cramp
- creature
- cringer
- customer agent
- cylinder scale
- device
- diathermy machine
- dibble
- direction finder
- docket
- document
- dog
- dossier
- drain
- drum scale
- dummy
- dupe
- electrocardiograph
- electroencephalograph
- electrograph
- equipment
- evaporimeter
- facsimile telegraph
- factor
- fan scale
- fawner
- fed
- federal agent
- fid
- file
- fishhook
- flatterer
- flexure plate scale
- flight recorder
- flunky
- footlicker
- forceps
- fork
- form
- freight agent
- functionary
- gadget
- gaff
- galvanometer
- gauge
- gauger
- gear
- general agent
- gimcrack
- gimlet
- gimmick
- gizmo
- go-between
- goad
- goniometer
- gosport
- gosport tube
- grab
- grapnel
- grapple
- grappler
- grappling iron
- grip
- groveler
- gyrocompass
- hand tool
- handmaid
- handmaiden
- handshaker
- harmonize
- harpoon
- hat pin
- heat lamp
- helot
- hemostat
- holdfast
- holograph
- hook
- horn
- hub dynamometer
- hygrograph
- hygrometer
- hypo
- hypodermic
- hypodermic needle
- hypsometer
- icepick
- implement
- inclinometer
- induction compass
- instrumentality
- instrumentate
- instrumentation
- insurance agent
- interagent
- intermediary
- intermediate
- intermedium
- jackal
- jaws
- joy stick
- kaleidoscope
- kowtower
- kymograph
- lackey
- lance
- lancet
- land agent
- laser
- law agent
- led captain
- legal document
- legal instrument
- legal paper
- lever
- lever scales
- lickspit
- lickspittle
- literary agent
- loan agent
- long-arm balance
- machine
- machinery
- magnetic compass
- make an adaptation
- manometer
- marlinespike
- mealymouth
- mean
- means
- measure
- measurer
- mechanical device
- mechanical heart
- mechanism
- mechanize
- mediator
- medium
- melodize
- meteorograph
- meter
- microfilm reader
- micrometer
- microscope
- midwife
- mill
- minion
- ministry
- motorize
- musicalize
- nail
- needle
- news agent
- nippers
- octant
- official
- official document
- optical altimeter
- orchestrate
- organ
- oscillograph
- otoscope
- oxgoad
- ozonometer
- pact
- pair of scales
- paper
- paper clip
- papers
- paraphernalia
- parchment
- pari-mutuel
- pari-mutuel machine
- parliamentary agent
- passenger agent
- pawn
- peon
- personal file
- photometer
- pike
- pin
- pincers
- pitchfork
- pitot-static tube
- plate fulcrum scale
- platform scale
- plaything
- pliers
- pluviograph
- pluviometer
- pneumatograph
- pneumatometer
- potentiometer
- power tool
- precision balance
- precision scale
- precision tool
- press agent
- prime mover
- prism
- probe
- prong
- punch
- puppet
- purchasing agent
- pus basin
- put to music
- pyrometer
- quadrant
- quill
- radar
- radio
- radio compass
- radio direction finder
- radiogoniometer
- range finder
- rate-of-climb indicator
- real estate agent
- recording barometer
- recording hygrometer
- register
- retool
- robot pilot
- roll
- rowel
- sales agent
- scale
- scales
- scalpel
- score
- scrip
- script
- scroll
- secretary
- seismograph
- seismoscope
- serf
- servant
- set
- set to music
- sextant
- sharpen
- short-arm balance
- skewer
- slave
- sound
- sound recorder
- spaniel
- spearhead
- special agent
- spectrograph
- spectrohelioscope
- spectroscope
- speculum
- speed tool
- spicule
- spiculum
- spike
- spine
- spiral balance
- spirit level
- spirometer
- spit
- splint
- spur
- staple
- static tube
- station agent
- stereopticon
- stethoscope
- steward
- sting
- stooge
- strike radar scanner
- suck
- sun compass
- suture
- swab
- sycophant
- syringe
- tachometer
- tack
- tackle
- tang
- tape recorder
- teletypewriter
- telltale
- theatrical agent
- thermograph
- thermometer
- thermometrograph
- thermostat
- thingumabob
- thingumajig
- thingummy
- throttle
- thumbtack
- ticker
- ticket agent
- timeserver
- tine
- toad
- toady
- tongs
- tool
- toy
- transcribe
- transit instrument
- transpose
- travel agent
- trepan
- trephine
- truckler
- tufthunter
- turnstile
- tweezers
- utensil
- variometer
- vehicle
- venturi tube
- viewer
- viscosimeter
- vise
- voting machine
- walking delegate
- way
- weigh scales
- weighbridge
- weighing machine
- weight voltameter
- whatnot
- wherewithal
- wrench
- writ
- write
- writing
- yes-man
- yoke
vanishedone commented on the word instrument
As a verb (well, a form derived from use as a verb anyway): 'Scientists would like to send an instrumented balloon to Titan'
March 21, 2008