Meaning of instrument in English

instrument

noun [ C ]

/ˈɪn.strə.mənt/ us

/ˈɪn.strə.mənt/

instrument noun [C] (MUSIC)

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(also musical instrument)

an object, such as a piano, guitar, or drum, that is played to produce musical sounds:

string instrument Guitars, pianos, and cellos are different types of string instrument.

stringed instrument

keyboard instrument The spinet was an early keyboard instrument related to the harpsichord, often found in domestic contexts.

woodwind instrument

wind instrument

percussion instrument

brass instrument The cornet is a brass instrument related to the trumpet.

play an instrument Which instrument do you play?

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When a piece of music is recorded, each instrument is recorded separately on a 24- or 48-track tape.
If you want to learn to play a musical instrument, it might be a good idea to begin on something simple.
This wooden instrument is the ancestor of the modern metal flute.
The family all play instruments - they're all very musical.
The trumpet and trombone are brass instruments.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Musical instruments

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instrument noun [C] (TOOL)

a tool or other device, especially one without electrical power, used for performing a particular piece of work:

instruments of torture

surgical instrument

blunt instrument The man's injuries had obviously been caused by a blunt instrument.

a device used for measuring speed, height, etc. in vehicles, especially aircraft:

instrument panel

The lightning had damaged the plane's instruments, and they were not giving any readings.

C2 formal

a way of achieving or causing something:

instrument of He saw the theatre as an instrument of change - a way of forcing people to consider social and political issues.

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The main instruments are in the centre of the control panel.
The doctor used a sharp instrument to dig a piece of glass out of my finger.
Lewis estimates that 40 to 80 percent of dentists actually autoclave their instruments as they should.
The museum has a large collection of vicious medieval torture instruments.
The instrument panel was brightly illuminated.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Tools in general

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

The interior of vehicles

Measuring, weighing, & counting devices

Ways of achieving things

instrument noun [C] (FINANCE)

a type of investment in a company or in government debt that can be traded on the financial markets:

financial instrument Investors had a poor understanding of the risks involved in increasingly complex financial instruments.

debt instrument They trade in the debt instruments of developing countries.

(Definition of instrument from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

instrument | American Dictionary

instrument

noun [ C ]

/ˈɪn·strə·mənt/

instrument noun [C] (MUSIC)

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an object, such as a piano, guitar, or flute, which is played to produce musical sounds:

He plays saxophone, trumpet, and several other instruments.

instrument noun [C] (TOOL)

a tool or other device used for doing a particular piece of work:

surgical instruments

(Definition of instrument from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

instrument | Business English

instrument

noun [ C ]

(also financial instrument)

/ˈɪnstrəmənt/ us

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FINANCE

a financial asset that can be bought or sold, such as a bond, share, or other security :

Fixed-income instruments include bonds, Treasury bills, and notes.

This will still leave sufficient funds in low-risk instruments such as the debt market.

Hedging instruments such as futures contracts are priced in dollars.

a tool, especially one without electrical power, used for performing a particular piece of work:

surgical/precision/optical instrument The first optical instruments were telescopes.

a piece of equipment used for measuring speed, height, etc. in vehicles, especially aircraft:

flight instruments

a way of achieving or causing something:

The main instrument of change was the bank credit card.

LAW

a legal document:

This is a legal instrument and both claims will have to be decided by the English High Court.

Examples of instrument

instrument

The time of 'orchestral' instruments as the only instruments for music making, and thus a specialty of trained musicians, is passed.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The results of this design philosophy are instruments which work well within a specific class of interactions and their sounding responses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Our need for this framework stems from the desire to design and build new instruments for musical expression.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The results of a questionnaire based on traditional motivational measurement instruments were put through factor analysis to determine the interrelationship of the questionnaire items.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Initiated the first world-wide network of seismological stations with his accurate recording instruments.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The last could well be what a thirteenth-century author would understand, anxious to show instruments in church as having papal blessing.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They were four singers who could also dance, but they played no instruments.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The intra-class correlation was good for both instruments.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Fourthly, although the same set of standardized instruments were used across all sites, quality of data collection might have varied.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, the instruments used here were more practicable because of time constraints in the general medical settings.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Is it possible to increase the accuracy of our diagnostic instruments ?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Both these instruments have been used to determine the range of behaviours associated with specific syndromes, and published data are available.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The two following sections present characteristics of networks and instruments, respectively.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A number of aspects of instruments can be discussed, and appropriately relevant characteristics can be derived.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Another distinction among types of policy instruments, that between economic and judicial or regulatory mechanisms, often gives rise to a misimpression.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with instrument

instrument

These are words often used in combination with instrument.

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acoustic instrument

In contrast, the kind of dynamics that shall be explored here shall be close coupled and physical, as they are in an acoustic instrument.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

ancient instrument

It is an ancient instrument rarely played today.

From

Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

appropriate instrument

There is a difficulty in finding the appropriate instrument among hundreds.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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What is the pronunciation of instrument?

Translations of instrument

in Chinese (Traditional)

音樂, 樂器, 工具…

Meaning of instrument in English

instrument noun [C] (MUSIC)

instrument noun [C] (TOOL)

instrument noun [C] (FINANCE)

instrument | American Dictionary

instrument noun [C] (MUSIC)

instrument noun [C] (TOOL)

instrument | Business English

See also

Examples of instrument

Collocations with instrument

instrument

Translations of instrument

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