instrumental

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Wikipedia

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Adjective 1.3.1 Derived terms 1.3.2 Related terms 1.4 Noun 1.4.1 Translations 1.5 External links 2 French 2.1 Adjective 2.2 Noun 2.2.1 See also 3 Serbo-Croatian 3.1 Noun 3.1.1 Declension 4 Spanish 4.1 Adjective

[edit] English

Wikipedia

[edit] Etymology

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

[edit] Pronunciation

•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

[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.
   • He defended the use of instrumental music in public worship. — Thomas Babington Macaulay
   • Sweet voices mix'd with instrumental sounds. — John Dryden
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] Derived terms

• instrumental error

[edit] Related terms

• instrumentation
• instrumentality
• instrumentive

[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

• instrumental in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• instrumental in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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[edit] French

[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

• génitif
• nominatif
• accusatif
• vocatif
• accusatif
• locatif

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[edit] Serbo-Croatian

[edit] Noun

ȉnstrumentāl m. (Cyrillic spelling и̏нструмента̄л)

1. the instrumental case

[edit] Declension

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[edit] Spanish

[edit] Adjective

instrumental m. and f. (plural instrumentales)

1. instrumental