INSTRUMENTAL • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Instrumental

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/ˌɪnstrəmˈɛntəl/ /ˌɪnstrəmˈɛnəl/ Listen

adjective

Instrumental adj.

Acting as an instrument; serving as a means; contributing to promote; conductive; helpful; serviceable; as, he was instrumental in conducting the business. "The head is not more native to the heart, The hand more instrumental to the mouth."

(Mus.) Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for, an instrument, esp. a musical instrument; as, instrumental music, distinguished from vocal music. "He defended the use of instrumental music in public worship." "Sweet voices mix'd with instrumental sounds."

(Gram.) Applied to a case expressing means or agency; as, the instrumental case. This is found in Sanskrit and Russian 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.

Instrumental errors, those errors in instrumental measurements, etc., which arise, exclusively from lack of mathematical accuracy in an instrument.

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Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Instrumental" Quotes from Famous Books

... right." He had collected himself, retrieved the Lewis gun, taken it apart and cleaned it and stuck to his post. The shelling and sniping here had been quite heavy. His action was recognized by the British, who awarded him a Military Medal, just as they did Corporal Morrow who was instrumental in reoccupying and holding an important post which had been driven in early in the engagement. Corporal Dreskey and Private Lintula also distinguished ...

— The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki - Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919 • Joel R. Moore

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... been instrumental in relieving a woman who was perishing from having breathed the fumes of charcoal, I was led to reflect that in such cases there was something to be taken away from the lungs, as well as warmth to be added. This woman's ...

— Theory of Circulation by Respiration - Synopsis of its Principles and History • Emma Willard

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... medical officer responsible for the health of the town, and he has been instrumental in carrying out great reforms, especially in doing away with the tokuls and hovels, in which the Arabs herded together, and removing them to a ...

— Scientific American Supplement, No. 1157, March 5, 1898 • Various

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... my father, with oil—colors filched from my mother's paint-box. They seemed to me portraits of the people who lived in the desk; evidently they enjoyed their existence hugely. And when I considered that the desk was also somehow instrumental in the production of stories—such as the Snow Image—of a delectable and magical character, the importance to my mind of the whole contrivance may be conceived. When I grew beyond child's estate, I learned that it had also assisted ...

— Hawthorne and His Circle • Julian Hawthorne

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... the excellent Miss Knag justice, she had been mainly instrumental in bringing about this altered state of things, for, finding by daily experience, that there was no chance of the business thriving, or even continuing to exist, while Mr Mantalini had any hand in the expenditure, and having now ...

— The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby • Charles Dickens

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