Instanz

German

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin īnstantia (“perseverence, urgency”), first referring to the pursuit of a legal matter, then the office responsible for that pursuit. The technological sense is a later semantic loan from English instance.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ants

Noun

Instanz f (genitive Instanz, plural Instanzen)

1. (law) legal authority

   Der Bundesgerichtshof ist die oberste gerichtliche Instanz für Strafverfahren in Deutschland.

   The Federal Court of Justice is the highest judicial authority for criminal proceedings in Germany.

   in erster Instanz entscheiden ― to decide (a court case) in the first instance

   1. (by extension) authority, entity (any agency, person or level in a hierarchy considered to have authority over a situation)
2. (especially computing) instance (specific occurence or realization)

Declension

Declension of Instanz [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Instanz	die	Instanzen
genitive	einer	der	Instanz	der	Instanzen
dative	einer	der	Instanz	den	Instanzen
accusative	eine	die	Instanz	die	Instanzen

Related terms

• inständig

Further reading

• “Instanz” in Duden online
• “Instanz”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)