Meaning of instrument In English

• 0 an object, such as a piano, guitar, or drum, that is played to produce musical sounds:

  • Which instrument do you play?

• 1 a tool or other device, especially one without electrical power, used for performing a particular piece of work:

  • surgical instruments

  • instruments of torture

  • The man's injuries had obviously been caused by a blunt instrument.

  • the instrument panel

  • The lightning had damaged the plane's instruments, and they weren't giving any readings.

  • He saw the theatre as an instrument of change - a way of forcing people to consider social and political issues.

• 2 a type of investment in a company or in government debt that can be traded on the financial markets:

  • They trade in the debt instruments of developing countries.

  • increasingly complex financial instruments

• 3 an object, such as a piano, guitar, or flute, which is played to produce musical sounds:

  • He plays saxophone, trumpet, and several other instruments.

• 4 a tool or other device used for doing a particular piece of work:

  • surgical instruments

• 5 a financial asset that can be bought or sold, such as a bond, share, or other security :

  • Fixed-income instruments include bonds, Treasury bills, and notes.

  • This will still leave sufficient funds in low-risk instruments such as the debt market.

  • Hedging instruments such as futures contracts are priced in dollars.

• 6 a tool, especially one without electrical power, used for performing a particular piece of work:

  • surgical/precision/optical instrument The first optical instruments were telescopes.

• 7 a piece of equipment used for measuring speed, height, etc. in vehicles, especially aircraft:

  • flight instruments

• 8 a way of achieving or causing something:

  • The main instrument of change was the bank credit card.

• 9 a legal document:

  • This is a legal instrument and both claims will have to be decided by the English High Court.