INSTRUMENTAL • E-FREE TRANSLATION.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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Etymology of 'Instrumental'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Instrumental" Quotes from Famous Books

... v., to float upon the water, to swim: inf. n he wiht fram me fld-um feor fletan meahte. hraor on helme, no whit, could he swim from me farther on the waves (regarded as instrumental, so that the waves marked the distance), more swiftly in the sea, 542; pret. sgenga flet fmigheals for ofer e, floated away over the ...

— Beowulf • James A. Harrison and Robert Sharp, eds.

... mercy on his soul!" exclaimed Fleetword: "Pray, pray!" he continued, elevating his voice, and hoping, with a kindliness of feeling which Sir Willmott had little right to expect, that he might be instrumental in directing the wretched man's attention to a future state. "Pray! death is before you, and you cannot wrestle with it! Pray! even at the eleventh hour! Pray!—and we will pray ...

— The Buccaneer - A Tale • Mrs. S. C. Hall

... separate bands, in a meadow on each side of the causeway, raised with turf; and whilst their Majesties and the company were passing through the great salon, they danced. On their passage by water, the barges were followed by other boats, having on board vocal and instrumental musicians, habited like Nereids, singing and playing the whole time. After landing, the shepherdesses I have mentioned before received the company in separate troops, with songs and dances, after the fashion and accompanied by the music of the provinces they represented,—the ...

— Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, Complete • Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre

... enthusiasm and sympathy for the Turks is most openly expressed. Every cottage in the neighborhood is filled with crude pictures representing events of the Hungarian revolution; and the peasants, as they look upon those reminders of perturbed times, reflect that the Russians were instrumental in preventing the accomplishment of their dearest wishes. Here the Hungarian is eminently patriotic: he endeavors as much as possible to forget that he and his are bound to the empire of Austria, and he speaks of the German and the Slav who ...

— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, August, 1878 • Various

... if she would accompany him to a morning instrumental concert at Melchester, which was to take place in the course of that week for the ...

— The Hand of Ethelberta • Thomas Hardy

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