instrumental

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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From Middle English instrumental, instrumentale, from Medieval Latin īnstrūmentālis, equivalent to instrument +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ɪnstɹəˈmɛntəl/, /ɪnstɹʊˈmɛntəl/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛntəl

Adjective

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instrumental (comparative more instrumental, superlative most instrumental)

  1. Essential or central; of great importance or relevance.
    He was instrumental in conducting the business.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene 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.
    • 2020 July 29, Ian Prosser discusses with Paul Stephen, “Rail needs robust and strategic plans”, in Rail, page 40:
      [...] Prosser was instrumental in the decision in 2010 to recommence publication of an annual health and safety report, following a period when it had fallen into abeyance.
  2. Serving as an instrument, medium, means, or agency.
    • 1896, Charles M. Sheldon, chapter 12, in In His Steps:
      Maxwell started back to his study, feeling that kind of satisfaction which a man feels when he has been even partly instrumental in finding an unemployed person a remunerative position.
  3. (music) Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for an instrument, especially a musical instrument (rather than the human voice).
    instrumental music
    An instrumental part
  4. (grammar) Applied to a case expressing means or agency, generally corresponding to the English use of prepositions such as by, with, through, or by means of with the objective case.
    the instrumental case

Antonyms

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Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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instrumental (plural instrumentals)

  1. (grammar) The instrumental case.
  2. (music) A composition written or performed without lyrics or singing, 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 []

Translations

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Further reading

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin īnstrūmentālis.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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instrumental m or f (masculine and feminine plural instrumentals)

  1. instrumental

Derived terms

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Noun

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instrumental m (uncountable)

  1. (grammar) instrumental
  2. (medicine) (set of) instruments

Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Late Latin īnstrūmentālis. By surface analysis, instrument +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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

  1. instrumental

Derived terms

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Noun

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instrumental m (plural instrumentaux)

  1. (grammar) instrumental case, instrumental
    Coordinate terms: accusatif, génitif, locatif, nominatif, vocatif

Descendants

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  • Turkish: enstrümantal

Further reading

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German

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French instrumental. Equivalent to Instrument +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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instrumental (strong nominative masculine singular instrumentaler, not comparable)

  1. (music) instrumental
    Antonym: nichtinstrumental

Declension

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Further reading

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Indonesian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Dutch instrumentaal, from French instrumental, from Medieval Latin īnstrūmentālis.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ɪn.stru.ˈmɛn.tal/
  • Rhymes: -tal, -al
  • Hyphenation: in‧stru‧men‧tal

Adjective

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instrumental

  1. instrumental:
    1. (music) pertaining to, made by, or prepared for an instrument, especially a musical instrument (rather than the human voice).
    2. (linguistics) applied to a case expressing means or agency.
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Further reading

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Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /inˌstrumɛnˈtaːl/, /inˈstrumɛntal/, /instruˈmɛntal/

Adjective

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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

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References

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Portuguese

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Pronunciation

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  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈtal/ [ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈtaɫ]
    • (Southern Portugal) IPA(key): /ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈta.li/

  • Rhymes: -al, -aw
  • Hyphenation: ins‧tru‧men‧tal

Adjective

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instrumental m or f (plural instrumentais, sometimes comparable)

  1. (comparable) instrumental (acting as an instrument)
  2. (music, not comparable) instrumental (having no singing)
  3. (grammar, not comparable) instrumental (pertaining to the instrumental case)

Derived terms

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Noun

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instrumental m (plural instrumentais)

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

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French instrumental. By surface analysis, instrument +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌin.stru.menˈtal/

Adjective

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instrumental m or n (feminine singular instrumentală, masculine plural instrumentali, feminine and neuter plural instrumentale)

  1. instrumental

Declension

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Serbo-Croatian

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Noun

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ȉnstrumentāl m (Cyrillic spelling и̏нструмента̄л)

  1. (grammar) 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

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Slovene

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Pronunciation

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

Noun

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ȋnstrumental or instrumentȃl m inan

  1. (grammar) instrumental case
    Synonym: orodnik
  2. (music) instrumental music

Inflection

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This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

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  • instrumental”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Spanish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /instɾumenˈtal/ [ĩns.t̪ɾu.mẽn̪ˈt̪al]
  • Rhymes: -al
  • Syllabification: ins‧tru‧men‧tal

Adjective

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instrumental m or f (masculine and feminine plural instrumentales)

  1. instrumental

Derived terms

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Further reading

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