Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

instrumentality en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˌɪnstɹʊmɛnˈtælɪti/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Etymology tree English instrumental Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Latin -itāsder. Old French -itebor. Middle English -ite English -ity English instrumentality From instrumental + -ity.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable) The condition or quality of being instrumental; being useful; serving a purpose.
    • In a later vision the Saviour revealed to her in detail the 'great design' which he wished to establish through her instrumentality. 1902, William James, “Lectures XIV and XV: The Value of Saintliness”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 344:
  2. (countable) Something that is instrumental; an instrument.
    • God works by instrumentalities, and he has wonderfully thus far interposed in keeping evils that I feared in abeyance. 1914, Samuel F. B. Morse, Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals:
    • Delays and failures will only set her to casting about for new instrumentalities. 1873, Helen Hunt Jackson, Bits About Home Matters:
    • He spoke of the various instrumentalities which were now employed for the conversion of the world. 1838, American Anti-Slavery Society, The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 2 of 4:
  3. (countable) A governmental organ with a specific purpose.
    • Any work in which the copyright was ever owned or administered by the Alien Property Custodian and in which the restored copyright would be owned by a government or instrumentality thereof, is not a restored work. 1994, Title 17 of the United States Code, §104A(a)(2):
  4. (countable, uncountable) The property of being in the instrumental case.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
instrumentalities Number=Plur lexicographic

Translations (9)

de Instrumentarium (something that is instrumental; an instrument) · de Intrumentalität (something that is instrumental; an instrument) · de Mittel (something that is instrumental; an instrument) · de Hilfe (quality or condition of being instrumental) · de Ausführungsorgan (governmental organ) · de Tatmittel (instrumentality of crime (criminal asset)) · de Werkzeug (something that is instrumental; an instrument) · de Tatwerkzeug (instrumentality of crime (criminal asset)) · de Hilfestellung (quality or condition of being instrumental)