instrumental

From Middle English instrumental, instrumentale, from Medieval Latin īnstrūmentālis.

• IPA^(key): /ɪnstɹəˈmɛntəl/, /ɪnstɹʊˈmɛntəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛntəl

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

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     He defended the use of instrumental music in public worship.

   • c. 1700, John Dryden, Cymon and Iphigenia:

     Sweet voices mix'd with instrumental sounds.

4. (grammar) Applied to a case expressing means or agency, generally indicated in English by by or with with the objective.

   the instrumental case

• noninstrumental

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

• instrument

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 […]

• “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.

Borrowed from Latin īnstrūmentālis.

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

instrumental m or f (masculine and feminine plural instrumentals)

1. instrumental

• instrumentalitzar

• instrument

instrumental m (uncountable)

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

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

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

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃s.tʁy.mɑ̃.tal/

• audio

  (file)

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

1. instrumental

• instrumentaliser

instrumental m (plural instrumentaux)

1. (grammar) instrumental case, instrumental

   Coordinate terms: accusatif, génitif, locatif, nominatif, vocatif

• → Turkish: enstrümantal

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

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

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

instrumental (strong nominative masculine singular instrumentaler, not comparable)

1. (music) instrumental

   Antonym: nichtinstrumental

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

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

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

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.

• “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.

• instrumentale, instrumentall

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

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

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.

• English: instrumental

• “instrū̆mentāl, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.

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

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)

• instrumentalmente

instrumental m (plural instrumentais)

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

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

• IPA^(key): /ˌin.stru.menˈtal/

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

1. instrumental

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

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

ȋnstrumental or instrumentȃl m inan

1. (grammar) instrumental case

   Synonym: orodnik

2. (music) instrumental music

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

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

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

instrumental m or f (masculine and feminine plural instrumentales)

1. instrumental

• “instrumental”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014