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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Instrumental \In'stru*men"tal\, adjective [Cf. F. instrumental.]
1. Acting as an instrument; serving as a means; contributing to promote; conductive; helpful; serviceable; as, he was instrumental in conducting the business.
The head is not more native to the heart, The hand more instrumental to the mouth. --Shak.
2. (Mus.) Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for, an instrument, esp. a musical instrument; as, instrumental music, distinguished from vocal music. ''He defended the use of instrumental music in public worship.'' --Macaulay.
Sweet voices mix'd with instrumental sounds. --Dryden.
3. (Gram.) Applied to a case expressing means or agency; as, the instrumental case. This is found in Sanskrit and Russian as a separate case, but in Greek it was merged into the dative, and in Latin into the ablative. In Old English it was a separate case, but has disappeared, leaving only a few anomalous forms.
{Instrumental errors}, those errors in instrumental measurements, etc., which arise, exclusively from lack of mathematical accuracy in an instrument.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
instrumental
adjective
1: relating to or designed for or performed on musical instruments; "instrumental compositions"; "an instrumental ensemble" [ant: {vocal}]
2: serving or acting as a means or aid; "instrumental in solving the crime" [syn: {implemental}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
52 Moby Thesaurus words for "instrumental": accessory, adjuvant, advantageous, agential, agentival, agentive, ancillary, assistant, assisting, auxiliary, beneficial, catalytic, concert, conducive, contributory, dramatico-musical, employable, facilitating, favoring, forwarding, fostering, handy, helpful, helping, important, intermediary, jazz, jazzy, mediating, mediatorial, ministerial, ministering, ministrant, nurtural, nutricial, of service, orchestral, promoting, rock, serviceable, serving, significant, subservient, subsidiary, supporting, supportive, swing, symphonic, syncopated, useful, utilitarian, valuable
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |