instrumental

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[edit] English

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Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

[edit] Etymology

From Middle English, from Medieval Latin instrumentalis, from instruere ("to build into, set up, construct, furnish," hence "to train"), from in- ("on") + struere ("to put together, arrange, pile up, build, construct"), from Proto-Indo-European *streu- (to spread, extend, stretch out).

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Adjective

instrumental (comparative more instrumental, superlative most instrumental)

  1. Acting as an instrument; serving as a means; contributing to promote; conductive; helpful; serviceable; essential or central.
    He was instrumental in conducting the business.
    • The head is not more native to the heart, The hand more instrumental to the mouth — Shakespeare, Hamlet, I,ii
  2. (music) Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for, an instrument, especially a musical instrument; as, instrumental music, distinguished from vocal music.
  3. (grammar) Applied to a case expressing means or agency—and is generally indicated in English by by or with with the objective; as, the instrumental case. This is found in Sanskrit as a separate case, but in Greek it was merged into the dative, and in Latin into the ablative. In Old English it was a separate case, but has disappeared, leaving only a few anomalous forms. It continues to be used in Slavic languages.

[edit] Translations

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[edit] Noun

instrumental (countable and uncountable; plural instrumentals)

  1. (uncountable, grammar) The instrumental case.
  2. (countable, music) A composition without lyrics.

[edit] Translations

[edit] External links


[edit] French

[edit] Pronunciation

  • (file)
  • IPA: /ɛ̃s.tʁy.mɑ̃.tal/

[edit] Adjective

instrumental m. (f. instrumentale, m. plural instrumentaux, f. plural instrumentales)

  1. instrumental

[edit] Noun

instrumental m. (plural instrumentaux)

  1. (grammar) the instrumental case

[edit] See also


[edit] Serbo-Croatian

[edit] Noun

ȉnstrumentāl m. (Cyrillic spelling и̏нструмента̄л)

  1. the instrumental case

[edit] Declension


[edit] Spanish

[edit] Adjective

instrumental m. and f. (plural instrumentales)

  1. instrumental
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