instrumental

instrumental

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of instrumental in English

English Online Dictionary. What means instrumental‎? What does instrumental mean?

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

instrumental (comparative more instrumental, superlative most instrumental)

  1. Essential or central; of great importance or relevance.
  2. Serving as an instrument, medium, means, or agency.
  3. (music) Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for an instrument, especially a musical instrument (rather than the human voice).
  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.

Antonyms

  • noninstrumental

Coordinate terms

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

Derived terms

Related terms

  • instrument

Translations

Noun

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.

Translations

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.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnstrūmentālis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (Central, Balearic) [ins.tɾu.mənˈtal]
  • IPA(key): (Valencia) [ins.tɾu.menˈtal]

Adjective

instrumental m or f (masculine and feminine plural instrumentals)

  1. instrumental

Derived terms

  • instrumentalitzar

Related terms

  • instrument

Noun

instrumental m (uncountable)

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

Further reading

  • “instrumental” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɛ̃s.tʁy.mɑ̃.tal/

Adjective

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

  1. instrumental

Derived terms

  • instrumentaliser

Noun

instrumental m (plural instrumentaux)

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

Descendants

  • → Turkish: enstrümantal

Further reading

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

German

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

instrumental (strong nominative masculine singular instrumentaler, not comparable)

  1. (music) instrumental
    Antonym: nichtinstrumental

Declension

Further reading

  • “instrumental” in Duden online
  • “instrumental” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Indonesian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

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.

Related terms

Further reading

  • “instrumental” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Middle English

Alternative forms

  • instrumentale, instrumentall

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Portuguese

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

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

  • instrumentalmente

Noun

instrumental m (plural instrumentais)

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

Romanian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌin.stru.menˈtal/

Adjective

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

  1. instrumental

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

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

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.

Further reading

  • “instrumental”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2024

Spanish

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

instrumental m or f (masculine and feminine plural instrumentales)

  1. instrumental

Derived terms

Further reading

  • “instrumental”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.