INSTRUMENT: Synonyms and Related Words. What is Another Word for INSTRUMENT?

Need another word that means the same as “instrument”? Find 36 synonyms and 30 related words for “instrument” in this overview.

The synonyms of “Instrument” are: musical instrument, tool, cat's-paw, pawn, official document, implement, utensil, device, apparatus, contrivance, gadget, contraption, appliance, mechanism, agent, agency, catalyst, cause, factor, channel, force, medium, means, vehicle, organ, puppet, creature, dupe, hostage, counter, cog, measuring device, gauge, meter, measure, instrumentate

Instrument as a Noun

Definitions of "Instrument" as a noun

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “instrument” as a noun can have the following definitions:

• A measuring device used to gauge the level, position, speed, etc. of something, especially a motor vehicle or aircraft.
• A person used by another to gain an end.
• A formal or legal document.
• Any of various devices or contrivances that can be used to produce musical tones or sounds.
• A person who is exploited or made use of.
• An object or device for producing musical sounds.
• The means whereby some act is accomplished.
• A device that requires skill for proper use.
• A means of pursuing an aim.
• A tool or implement, especially one for precision work.
• (law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right.
• A document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right.
• The semantic role of the entity (usually inanimate) that the agent uses to perform an action or start a process.

Synonyms of "Instrument" as a noun (35 Words)

agency	How a result is obtained or an end is achieved. An advertising agency.
agent	Any agent or representative of a federal agency or bureau. There is an urgent need for new antimicrobial agents to combat infections.
apparatus	(anatomy) a group of body parts that work together to perform a given function. The breathing apparatus.
appliance	A fire engine. The appliance of science could increase crop yields.
cat's-paw	A clawed foot of an animal especially a quadruped.
catalyst	A person or thing that precipitates an event. The prime minister s speech acted as a catalyst for debate.
cause	A series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a particular end. Forty five causes were entered in the list for the March session.
channel	A service or station using a channel of frequencies. They didn t apply through the proper channels.
cog	Each of the projections on a cog. Applewood was the favourite material for the cogs or teeth of a cogwheel.
contraption	A device or control that is very useful for a particular job. Repairing stereos and making contraptions out of spare electronic bits.
contrivance	A device or control that is very useful for a particular job. The often tiresome contrivances of historical fiction.
counter	A piece of furniture that stands at the side of a dining room; has shelves and drawers. The proposal has become a crucial bargaining counter over prices.
creature	A human being; `wight’ is an archaic term. Night sounds of birds and other creatures.
device	Something in an artistic work designed to achieve a particular effect. Their shields bear the device of the Blazing Sun.
dupe	A victim of deception. Men who were simply the dupes of their unscrupulous leaders.
factor	With numeral a sunscreen of the sun protection factor specified. What are the 4 factors of 6.
force	The army navy and air force of a country. They ruled by law and not by force.
gadget	A small mechanical or electronic device or tool, especially an ingenious or novel one. A variety of kitchen gadgets.
gauge	A measure of the diameter of a gun barrel, or of its ammunition, expressed as the number of spherical pieces of shot of the same diameter as the barrel that can be made from 1 lb (454 g) of lead. A fine 0 018 inch gauge wire.
hostage	A prisoner who is held by one party to insure that another party will meet specified terms. Three hostages were released but only after their families paid an estimated 200 000 to the guerrillas.
implement	Performance of an obligation. Garden implements.
means	Substantial resources; wealth. Exclusive hotels that are priced so that only people of means can stay.
measure	Measuring instrument having a sequence of marks at regular intervals used as a reference in making measurements. The Senate passed the measure by a 48 30 vote.
measuring device	Any maneuver made as part of progress toward a goal.
mechanism	The atomic process that occurs during a chemical reaction. Mechanisms of communication.
medium	A person claiming to be in contact with the spirits of the dead and to communicate between the dead and the living. Oil paint is the most popular medium for glazing.
meter	(prosody) the accent in a metrical foot of verse.
musical instrument	A play or film whose action and dialogue is interspersed with singing and dancing.
official document	Someone who administers the rules of a game or sport.
puppet	A small figure of a person operated from above with strings by a puppeteer. A former revolutionary hero who is now a puppet of the state.
tool	A distinct design in the tooling of a book. That guy is such a tool.
utensil	An implement for practical use (especially in a household. Kitchen utensils.
vehicle	A conveyance that transports people or objects. The play was just a vehicle to display her talents.

Usage Examples of "Instrument" as a noun

• Myriad instruments and switches.
• The value of learning to play a musical instrument.
• Writing instruments.
• My greed was the instrument of my destruction.
• The failure of education as an instrument of social reform.
• A new instrument for measuring ozone levels.
• He was a mere instrument acting under coercion.
• The musicians started tuning their instruments.
• Execution involves signature and unconditional delivery of the instrument.
• Instruments of torture.
• A surgical instrument.
• A percussion instrument.

Instrument as a Verb

Definitions of "Instrument" as a verb

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “instrument” as a verb can have the following definitions:

• Address a legal document to.
• Equip (something) with measuring instruments.
• Equip with instruments for measuring, recording, or controlling.
• Write an instrumental score for.

Synonyms of "Instrument" as a verb (1 Word)

instrumentate

Write an instrumental score for.

Usage Examples of "Instrument" as a verb

• A DC-8 aircraft instrumented as a flying laboratory.
• Engineers have instrumented rockets to study the upper atmosphere.

Associations of "Instrument" (30 Words)

accordion	Folding like the bellows of an accordion. An accordion player.
apparatus	The complex structure of a particular organization or system. One thing about the book s apparatus does irritate the absence of an index of titles.
appliance	Durable goods for home or office use. Three fire appliances were rushed to the scene.
blues	A piece of blues music. He had a bad case of the blues.
clarion	Blow the clarion. A clarion call.
drum	Small to medium sized bottom dwelling food and game fishes of shallow coastal and fresh waters that make a drumming noise. Two greater spotted woodpeckers were drumming.
embouchure	The mouth of a river or valley.
ensemble	The coordination between performers executing an ensemble passage. We would have to adopt a picture in which there is an ensemble of all possible universes with some probability distribution.
flute	Play a flute or pipe. What do you do she fluted.
guitar	A stringed instrument usually having six strings; played by strumming or plucking.
harp	A musical instrument consisting of a frame supporting a graduated series of parallel strings played by plucking with the fingers The modern orchestral harp has an upright frame with pedals which enable the strings to be retuned to different keys. Among them harped the divine minstrel Demodocus.
keyboard	Enter data by means of a keyboard. Entries would be keyboarded.
kit	Young of any of various fur-bearing animals. A football kit.
lyre	A stringed instrument like a small U-shaped harp with strings fixed to a crossbar, used especially in ancient Greece. Modern instruments of this type are found mainly in East Africa.
melody	A succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence. We have the melody and bass of a song composed by Strozzi.
musicologist	A student of musicology.
orchestrate	Plan and direct (a complex undertaking. The song cycle was stunningly arranged and orchestrated.
percussion	The act of playing a percussion instrument. The clattering percussion of objects striking the walls and the shutters.
piano	A large keyboard musical instrument with a wooden case enclosing a soundboard and metal strings, which are struck by hammers when the keys are depressed. The strings’ vibration is stopped by dampers when the keys are released and can be regulated for length and volume by two or three pedals. The piano passages in the composition.
piccolo	A small flute; pitched an octave above the standard flute.
playing	The act of playing a musical instrument.
rendition	The act of interpreting something as expressed in an artistic performance. Often imitations are extended to provide a more accurate rendition of the child s intended meaning.
strings	The section of an orchestra that plays stringed instruments.
trumpet	Play or blow on the trumpet. The press trumpeted another defeat for the government.
utensil	An implement for practical use (especially in a household. Kitchen utensils.
viola	Large genus of flowering herbs of temperate regions.
violin	A stringed musical instrument of treble pitch played with a horsehair bow The classical European violin was developed in the 16th century It has four strings and a body of characteristic rounded shape narrowed at the middle and with two f shaped soundholes.
violinist	A musician who plays the violin. The most renowned virtuoso violinist of his time.
woodwind	Wind instruments other than brass instruments forming a section of an orchestra, including flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons. A woodwind instrument.
xylophone	A musical instrument played by striking a row of wooden bars of graduated length with one or more small wooden or plastic beaters.