Instruct Meaning
/ɪnˈstɹʌkt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo teach by giving instructions.
verbTo tell (someone) what they must or should do.
Sentence Examples
I'll instruct you this once, and only this once; thus, you'd better be ready.
I use animals to instruct people.
Please instruct the patient to visit a clinician.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The trainer will ____ the new employees on safety procedures before they start work.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The teacher will ____ the students on how to use the complex lab equipment safely for the project.
Word Origin & History
From Latin īnstrūctus, perfect passive participle of īnstruō (“I instruct; I arrange, furnish, or provide”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Supply me with the habit and instruct me
How I may formally in person bear me
Like a true friar."
— c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
"What a dishonour’s this, to me, to have so Dull a Father, that needs to be instructed in his Duty."
— 1682, Aphra Behn, The False Count, London: Jacob Tonson, act III, scene 2, page 33:
"[…] I should deem you a man sore sick, it may be, yet not so sick but that an instructed and watchful physician might well hope to cure you."
— 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “chapter 10”, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:
"At the Laundromat I instruct Chris on how to operate the drier, start the washing machines […]"
— 1974, Robert M[aynard] Pirsig, chapter 29, in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow & Company, →ISBN, part 4, page 353:
"What, shall a child instruct you what to do?"
— 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The trainer will ____ the new employees on safety procedures before they start work.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The teacher will ____ the students on how to use the complex lab equipment safely for the project.