Instance Meaning
/ˈɪnstəns/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounUrgency of manner or words; an urgent request; insistence.
nounA token; a sign; a symptom or indication.
Sentence Examples
Japan is full of beautiful cities. Kyoto and Nara, for instance.
For instance, bowing is peculiar to us, the Japanese.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The scientist needed a specific ____ of a successful experiment to prove her claim.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
This is just one ____ of the many problems that we have been facing with the new computer program.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle French instance, from Latin īnstantia (“a being near, presence, also perseverance, earnestness, importunity, urgency”), from īnstāns (“urgent”); see instant.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I know one very well alied, to whom, at the instance of a brother of his[…], I spake to that purpose[…]."
— 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
"[…]undertook at her instance to restore them."
— 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:
"It was settled, as long ago as the first Congress, at the instance of Madison, then in the Senate, and by the deciding vote of John Adams, then Vice-President, that even where the advice and consent of the Senate was necessary to the appointment of an officer, the President had the absolute power to remove him without consulting the Senate."
— 1916, William Howard Taft, Our Chief Magistrate and His Powers, New York: Columbia University Press, →OCLC, →OL, page 56:
"It sends some precious instance of itself/ After the thing it loves."
— 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 IV, scene v]:
"The instances that second marriage move
Are base respects of thrift, but none of love."
— 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 III, scene ii]:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The scientist needed a specific ____ of a successful experiment to prove her claim.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
This is just one ____ of the many problems that we have been facing with the new computer program.