instrumental

See also: Instrumental, instrumentāl, instrumentál, and inštrumentál

English

Etymology

From Middle English instrumental, instrumentale, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  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 (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, to strew”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnstɹəˈmɛntəl/, /ɪnstɹʊˈmɛntəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

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.

   • (Can we date this quote?), William Shakespeare, Hamlet, I,ii

     The head is not more native to the heart, The hand more instrumental to the mouth —

   • 2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 2, 51:

     Few songwriters have been as instrumental in creating the mold for American music.

2. (music) Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for, an instrument, especially a musical instrument (rather than the human voice).

   instrumental music

   • (Can we date this quote by Thomas Babington Macaulay and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     He defended the use of instrumental music in public worship.

   • (Can we date this quote by John Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Sweet voices mix'd with instrumental sounds.

3. (grammar) Applied to a case expressing means or agency, generally indicated in English by by or with with the objective.

   the instrumental case

Antonyms

• noninstrumental

Coordinate terms

• (serving as a means): final
• (music): vocal, a capella

Derived terms

terms derived from instrument (noun)

• instrumental error
• instrumentation

• instrumentality
• instrumentive
• instrumentalist

Translations

acting as an instrument; serving as a means; contributing to promote; conductive; helpful; serviceable; essential or central.

• Bulgarian: инструментален (instrumentalen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有幫助的／有帮助的, 可作為方法的／可作为方法的, 可作為手段的／可作为手段的

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: dienlich (de), förderlich (de), entscheidend (de), hilfreich (de)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: instrumentell

  Nynorsk: instrumentell

of musical instrument

• Catalan: instrumental (ca)
• Czech: instrumentální (cs)
• Dutch: instrumentaal (nl)
• Finnish: instrumentaalinen, soitin-, soittimellinen
• French: instrumental (fr)
• Galician: instrumental
• German: instrumental (de), instrumentell (de)
• Hungarian: instrumentális
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: インストゥルメンタル (insuturumentaru)
• Lithuanian: instrumentinis m
• Polish: instrumentalny (pl)
• Portuguese: instrumental (pt)
• Romanian: instrumental (ro)
• Slovene: instrumentalen
• Spanish: instrumental (es)
• Turkish: aletli (tr), aletsel, enstrümantal (tr)

pertaining to the instrumental case

• Albanian: instrumental (sq)
• Armenian: գործիական (hy) (gorciakan)
• Bulgarian: творителен (tvoritelen)
• Finnish: instrumentaalinen
• French: instrumental (fr)
• Georgian: მოქმედებითი (ka) (mokmedebiti)
• German: Instrumentalis (de) m
• Haitian Creole: enstrimantal
• Hungarian: eszközhatározói
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lao: ຊ່ວຍ (suany)
• Portuguese: instrumental (pt)
• Romanian: instrumental (ro)
• Russian: твори́тельный (ru) (tvorítelʹnyj)
• Slovene: orodniški
• Spanish: instrumental (es)
• Tagalog: nakatulong
• Turkish: enstrümental
• Urdu: آلہ کار (alah-e-kar)

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} strumentale (it)

Noun

instrumental (plural instrumentals)

1. (grammar) The instrumental case.
2. (music) A composition written or performed without lyrics, sometimes using a lead instrument to replace vocals.
   • 1977, Stereo Review (volume 38, page 70)

     I recommend this album in the face of the fact that five of the eleven songs are the purest filler, dull instrumentals with a harmonica rifling over an indifferent rhythm section. The rest is magnificent […]

3. (plural only, music) The backing track of a song. The audio of a song without the vocal track.

Translations

instrumental case — see instrumental case

composition without lyrics

• Bulgarian: инструментал m (instrumental)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: instrumentálka f
• Dutch: instrumentaal (nl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: instrumentaali (fi), instrumentaalikappale, soitinsävellys
• French: instrumental (fr) m
• Korean: 기악 (ko) (giak)
• Portuguese: instrumental (pt) m

Further reading

• “instrumental”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “instrumental”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

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Catalan

Adjective

instrumental m or f (masculine and feminine plural instrumentals)

1. instrumental

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃s.tʁy.mɑ̃.tal/

• audio:

  (file)

Adjective

instrumental (feminine instrumentale, masculine plural instrumentaux, feminine plural instrumentales)

1. instrumental

Noun

instrumental m (plural instrumentaux)

1. (grammar) the instrumental case

See also

• accusatif
• génitif
• locatif
• nominatif
• vocatif

Further reading

• “instrumental”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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German

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French instrumental.

Instrument +‎ -al

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

instrumental (not comparable)

1. (music) instrumental

Antonyms

• nichtinstrumental

Further reading

• “instrumental” in Duden online

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• instrumentale, instrumentall

Etymology

From Medieval Latin instrumentalis; equivalent to instrument +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /instriu̯mɛnˈtaːl/, /instruˈmɛntal/

Adjective

instrumental (rare)

1. Resembling an instrument in role; instrumental (serving as a means)
2. Resembling an instrument in use (i.e. being used as a tool)
3. Resembling a (specific kind of) instrument in appearance.

Descendants

• English: instrumental

References

• “instrū̆mentāl (adj.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.

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Portuguese

Adjective

1. (music) instrumental (having no singing)
2. (grammar) instrumental (pertaining to the instrumental case)

Noun

instrumental m (plural instrumentais)

1. (uncountable, grammar) instrumental (grammatical case)
2. (countable, music) instrumental (composition without singing)

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Serbo-Croatian

Noun

ȉnstrumentāl m (Cyrillic spelling и̏нструмента̄л)

1. the instrumental case
2. (music) a composition made for instruments only or a (version of some) song in which only the instruments are heard

Declension

Declension of instrumental

	singular	plural
nominative	instrumental	instrumentali
genitive	instrumentala	instrumentala
dative	instrumentalu	instrumentalima
accusative	instrumental	instrumentale
vocative	instrumentale	instrumentali
locative	instrumentalu	instrumentalima
instrumental	instrumentalom	instrumentalima

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Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /íːnstrumɛntal/, /instrumɛntáːl/

Noun

ȋnstrumental or instrumentȃl m inan

1. (grammar) instrumental case

   Synonym: orodnik

2. (music) instrumental music

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

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Spanish

Adjective

instrumental m or f (masculine and feminine plural instrumentales)

1. instrumental

Derived terms

• caso instrumental