for instance

English

Alternative forms

• f'rinstance, frinstance (both nonstandard)

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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Adverb

for instance (not comparable)

1. (conjunctive) As an example.
   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly—the only lavishment of which he was ever guilty—on the floor.

   • 1907, Edith Wharton, The Fruit of the Tree, page 205:

     "Such an outcome would be unusual?" / "Exceptional. But then there are exceptions. And I'm straining every nerve to make this one!" / "And the suffering — such as today's, for instance — is unavoidable?"

   • 1940, Virginia Woolf, edited by Leonard Woolf, A Writer's Diary, published 1953, page 323:

     One taps any source of comfort — Leigh Ashton at Charleston yesterday for instance.

   • 2006, Michael Karpelson, The Master And Margarita, translation of original by Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov, page 66:

     I met one yesterday, for instance – some treat he was!

   • 2009, Christoph Börgers, Mathematics of Social Choice, page 190:

     For instance, one can always find a division that is envy-free and equitable: The equal division is an example.

   • 2011, Gordon Finn, Yesterday's Porridge, page 6:

     Take yesterday for instance. You can see how busy the store gets and we packers have to be ultra careful how we load the shelves and where we erect the pyramids. Two children aged about eight and ten were racing around the store playing […]

Synonyms

• (as an example): for example, e.g., exempli gratia

Translations

as an example — see for example