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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:

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

“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

The descriptions have to be vague, because articulation, besides depending on the instrument, also depends on the style of the music.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

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

It sits within a designated "radio quiet" zone, where communication systems and electronic equipment are restricted to reduce interference with sensitive scientific instruments.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

One of Sentinel-3C's most important instruments, its synthetic aperture radar altimeter, is designed to measure the height of the ocean surface with high precision.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

Just remember: The companies say these are “wellness” devices, not medical instruments designed to diagnose or manage hypertension.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

If the mountain blew up, it was going to do a lot more than just wreck instruments.

From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone

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

From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026

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

"This is the most heavily instrumented vehicle we will ever fly so we will get a tremendous amount of engineering data on vibration and temperature and stress, acoustics," said Mr Shannon.

From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2021

“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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