instrumental

See also: Instrumental, instrumentāl, instrumentál, and inštrumentál

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɪnstɹəˈmɛntəl/, /ɪnstɹʊˈmɛntəl/
Audio (US) (file)

Adjective

instrumental (comparative more instrumental, superlative most instrumental)

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 606515358, [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.
Serving as an instrument, medium, means, or agency.
- 1896, Charles M. Sheldon, In His Steps, chapter 12:
  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.
(music) Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for an instrument, especially a musical instrument (rather than the human voice).
instrumental music
An instrumental part
- 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second
  He defended the use of instrumental music in public worship.
- c. 1700, John Dryden, Cymon and Iphigenia
  Sweet voices mix'd with instrumental sounds.
(grammar) Applied to a case expressing means or agency, generally indicated in English by by or with with the objective.
the instrumental case

Antonyms

noninstrumental

Coordinate terms

(serving as a means): final
(music): vocal, a capella

Derived terms

terms derived from instrument (noun)

instrumental error
instrumentation
instrumentality
instrumentive
instrumentalist

Translations

acting as an instrument; serving as a means; contributing to promote; conductive; helpful; serviceable; essential or central.

Bulgarian: инструментален (instrumentalen)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 有幫助的／有帮助的, 可作為方法的／可作为方法的, 可作為手段的／可作为手段的
German: dienlich (de), förderlich (de), entscheidend (de), hilfreich (de)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: instrumentell
Nynorsk: instrumentell
Portuguese: instrumental (pt)

of musical instrument

Catalan: instrumental (ca)
Czech: instrumentální (cs)
Dutch: instrumentaal (nl)
Finnish: instrumentaalinen, soitin-, soittimellinen
French: instrumental (fr)
Galician: instrumental
German: instrumental (de), instrumentell (de)
Greek: οργανικός (el) (organikós)
Hungarian: instrumentális
Japanese: インストゥルメンタル (insuturumentaru)
Lithuanian: instrumentinis m
Polish: instrumentalny (pl)
Portuguese: instrumental (pt)
Romanian: instrumental (ro)
Slovene: instrumentalen
Spanish: instrumental (es)
Turkish: aletli (tr), aletsel, enstrümantal (tr)

pertaining to the instrumental case

Albanian: instrumental (sq)
Armenian: գործիական (hy) (gorciakan)
Belarusian: тво́рны (tvórny)
Bulgarian: твори́телен (tvorítelen)
Finnish: instrumentaalinen
French: instrumental (fr)
Georgian: მოქმედებითი (ka) (mokmedebiti)
German: Instrumentalis (de) m
Haitian Creole: enstrimantal
Hungarian: eszközhatározói
Italian: ^{(please verify)} strumentale (it)
Lao: ຊ່ວຍ (suāi)
Polish: narzędnikowy (pl)
Portuguese: instrumental (pt)
Romanian: instrumental (ro)
Russian: твори́тельный (ru) (tvorítelʹnyj)
Slovene: orodniški
Spanish: instrumental (es)
Tagalog: nakatulong
Turkish: enstrümental
Ukrainian: ору́дний (uk) (orúdnyj)
Urdu: آلہ کار‎ (alah-e-kar)

Noun

instrumental (plural instrumentals)

(grammar) The instrumental case.
(music) A composition written or performed without lyrics, sometimes 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

instrumental case — see instrumental case

composition without lyrics

Bulgarian: инструментал m (instrumental)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 器樂器乐 (hei³ ngok⁶)
Mandarin: 器樂／器乐 (zh) (qìyuè)
Czech: instrumentálka f
Dutch: instrumentaal (nl)
Finnish: instrumentaali (fi), instrumentaalikappale, soitinsävellys
French: instrumentale (fr) f, musique instrumentale (fr) f
Japanese: インストゥルメンタル (insuturumentaru), インスト (insuto), 器楽曲 (kigakukyoku)
Korean: 기악 (ko) (giak)
Portuguese: instrumental (pt) m

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin īnstrūmentālis.

Pronunciation

(Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ins.tɾu.mənˈtal/

(Valencian) IPA^(key): /ins.tɾu.menˈtal/

Adjective

instrumental (masculine and feminine plural instrumentals)

instrumental

Derived terms

instrumentalitzar

Related terms

instrument

Noun

instrumental m (uncountable)

(grammar) instrumental
(medicine) (set of) instruments

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɛ̃s.tʁy.mɑ̃.tal/
audio (file)

Adjective

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

instrumental

Noun

instrumental m (plural instrumentaux)

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

German

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Audio (file)
Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

instrumental (strong nominative masculine singular instrumentaler, not comparable)

(music) instrumental
Antonym: nichtinstrumental

Declension

Positive forms of instrumental (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
number & gender		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist instrumental	sie ist instrumental	es ist instrumental	sie sind instrumental
strong declension (without article)	nominative	instrumentaler	instrumentale	instrumentales	instrumentale
	genitive	instrumentalen	instrumentaler	instrumentalen	instrumentaler
	dative	instrumentalem	instrumentaler	instrumentalem	instrumentalen
	accusative	instrumentalen	instrumentale	instrumentales	instrumentale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der instrumentale	die instrumentale	das instrumentale	die instrumentalen
	genitive	des instrumentalen	der instrumentalen	des instrumentalen	der instrumentalen
	dative	dem instrumentalen	der instrumentalen	dem instrumentalen	den instrumentalen
	accusative	den instrumentalen	die instrumentale	das instrumentale	die instrumentalen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein instrumentaler	eine instrumentale	ein instrumentales	(keine) instrumentalen
	genitive	eines instrumentalen	einer instrumentalen	eines instrumentalen	(keiner) instrumentalen
	dative	einem instrumentalen	einer instrumentalen	einem instrumentalen	(keinen) instrumentalen
	accusative	einen instrumentalen	eine instrumentale	ein instrumentales	(keine) instrumentalen

Middle English

Alternative forms

instrumentale, instrumentall

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

instrumental (rare)

Resembling an instrument in role; instrumental (serving as a means)
Resembling an instrument in use (i.e. being used as a tool)
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

(Brazil) IPA^(key): /ĩs.tɾu.mẽˈtaw/ [ĩs.tɾu.mẽˈtaʊ̯]
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈtaw/ [ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈtaʊ̯]

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈtal/ [ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈtaɫ]

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

Adjective

instrumental m or f (plural instrumentais, sometimes comparable)

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

Derived terms

instrumentalmente

Noun

instrumental m (plural instrumentais)

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

Romanian

Etymology

From French instrumental.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˌin.stru.menˈtal/

Adjective

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

instrumental

Declension

Declension of instrumental

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	instrumental		instrumentală	instrumentali	instrumentale
nominative/ accusative	definite	instrumentalul		instrumentala	instrumentalii	instrumentalele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	instrumental		instrumentale	instrumentali	instrumentale
genitive/ dative	definite	instrumentalului		instrumentalei	instrumentalilor	instrumentalelor

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

ȉnstrumentāl m (Cyrillic spelling и̏нструмента̄л)

the instrumental case
(music) a composition made for instruments only or a (version of some) song in which only the instruments are heard

Declension

Declension of instrumental

	singular	plural
nominative	instrumental	instrumentali
genitive	instrumentala	instrumentala
dative	instrumentalu	instrumentalima
accusative	instrumental	instrumentale
vocative	instrumentale	instrumentali
locative	instrumentalu	instrumentalima
instrumental	instrumentalom	instrumentalima

Slovene

Pronunciation

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

Noun

ȋnstrumental or instrumentȃl m inan

(grammar) instrumental case
Synonym: orodnik
(music) instrumental music

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Spanish

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

instrumental (plural instrumentales)

instrumental

Derived terms

caso instrumental
instrumentalmente

instrumental

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Antonyms

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

Translations

Further reading

Catalan

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Derived terms

Related terms

Noun

Further reading

French

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Noun

Further reading

German

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Declension

Further reading

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Descendants

References

Portuguese

Pronunciation

Adjective

Derived terms

Noun

Romanian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

Declension

Slovene

Pronunciation

Noun

Inflection

Further reading

Spanish

Pronunciation

Adjective

Derived terms

Further reading