# instrumental
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English instrumental, instrumentale, from Medieval Latin īnstrūmentālis, equivalent to instrument +‎ -al.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɪnstɹəˈmɛntəl/, /ɪnstɹʊˈmɛntəl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛntəl

### Adjective

instrumental (comparative more instrumental, superlative most instrumental)
* Essential or central; of great importance or relevance.
    He was instrumental in conducting the business.
** 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 I, scene ii]:The head is not more native to the heart, The hand more instrumental to the mouth
** 2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 2, 51:Few songwriters have been as instrumental in creating the mold for American music.
** 2020 July 29, Ian Prosser discusses with Paul Stephen, “Rail needs robust and strategic plans”, in Rail, page 40:[...] Prosser was instrumental in the decision in 2010 to recommence publication of an annual health and safety report, following a period when it had fallen into abeyance.
* Serving as an instrument, medium, means, or agency.
** 1896, Charles M. Sheldon, chapter 12, in In His Steps:Maxwell started back to his study, feeling that kind of satisfaction which a man feels when he has been even partly instrumental in finding an unemployed person a remunerative position.
* (music) Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for an instrument, especially a musical instrument (rather than the human voice).
    instrumental music
    An instrumental part
** 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:He defended the use of instrumental music in public worship.
** c. 1700, John Dryden, Cymon and Iphigenia:Sweet voices mix'd with instrumental sounds.
* (music) A pause in the vocals of a song, usually occurring midway through, in which a musical instrument replaces the vocals.
* (grammar) Applied to a case expressing means or agency, generally corresponding to the English use of prepositions such as by, with, through, or by means of with the objective case.
    the instrumental case

#### Antonyms

* noninstrumental

#### Coordinate terms

* (serving as a means): final
* (music): vocal, a cappella

#### Derived terms

* instrumental error
* instrumentalist
* instrumentality
* instrumental rationality
* instrumental version
* instrumental width
* instrumentation
* instrumentive

#### Related terms

* instrument

#### Translations
### Noun

instrumental (plural instrumentals)
* (grammar) The instrumental case.
* (music) A composition written or performed without lyrics or singing, using a lead instrument to replace vocals.
** 1977, Stereo Review, volume 38, page 70:I recommend this album in the face of the fact that five of the eleven songs are the purest filler, dull instrumentals with a harmonica rifling over an indifferent rhythm section. The rest is magnificent […]

#### Translations
### Further reading

* “instrumental”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “instrumental”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnstrūmentālis.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ins.tɾu.mənˈtal]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ins.tɾu.menˈtal]

### Adjective

instrumental m or f (masculine and feminine plural instrumentals)
* instrumental

#### Derived terms

* instrumentalitzar

#### Related terms

* instrument

### Noun

instrumental m (uncountable)
* (grammar) instrumental
* (medicine) (set of) instruments

### Further reading

* “instrumental” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

## French
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin īnstrūmentālis. By surface analysis, instrument +‎ -al.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɛ̃s.tʁy.mɑ̃.tal/
* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

instrumental (feminine instrumentale, masculine plural instrumentaux, feminine plural instrumentales)
* instrumental

#### Derived terms

* instrumentaliser

### Noun

instrumental m (plural instrumentaux)
* (grammar) instrumental case, instrumental
    Coordinate terms: accusatif, génitif, locatif, nominatif, vocatif

### Descendants

* → Turkish: enstrümantal

### Further reading

* “instrumental”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## German
### Etymology

Borrowed from French instrumental. Equivalent to Instrument +‎ -al.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -aːl

### Adjective

instrumental (strong nominative masculine singular instrumentaler, not comparable)
* (music) instrumental
    Antonym: nichtinstrumental

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “instrumental” in Duden online
* “instrumental” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

## Indonesian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch instrumentaal, from French instrumental, from Medieval Latin īnstrūmentālis.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɪn.stru.ˈmɛn.tal/
* Rhymes: -tal, -al
* Hyphenation: in‧stru‧men‧tal

### Adjective

instrumental
* instrumental:
** (music) pertaining to, made by, or prepared for an instrument, especially a musical instrument (rather than the human voice).
** (linguistics) applied to a case expressing means or agency.

#### Related terms

* instrumen
* instrumentasi

### Further reading

* “instrumental” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* instrumentale, instrumentall

### Etymology

From Medieval Latin instrumentalis; equivalent to instrument +‎ -al.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /inˌstrumɛnˈtaːl/, /inˈstrumɛntal/, /instruˈmɛntal/

### Adjective

instrumental (rare)
* Resembling an instrument in role; instrumental (serving as a means)
* Resembling an instrument in use (i.e. being used as a tool)
* Resembling a (specific kind of) instrument in appearance.

#### Descendants

* English: instrumental

#### References

* “instrū̆mentāl, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ĩs.tɾu.mẽˈtaw/ [ĩs.tɾu.mẽˈtaʊ̯]
* (Brazil) IPA: /ĩs.tɾu.mẽˈtaw/ [ĩs.tɾu.mẽˈtaʊ̯]
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈtaw/ [ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈtaʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈtal/ [ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈtaɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈtal/ [ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈtaɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /ĩʃ.tɾu.mẽˈta.li/
* Rhymes: -al, -aw
* Hyphenation: ins‧tru‧men‧tal

### Adjective

instrumental m or f (plural instrumentais, sometimes comparable)
* (comparable) instrumental (acting as an instrument)
* (music, not comparable) instrumental (having no singing)
* (grammar, not comparable) instrumental (pertaining to the instrumental case)

#### Derived terms

* instrumentalmente

### Noun

instrumental m (plural instrumentais)
* (uncountable, grammar) instrumental (grammatical case)
* (countable, music) instrumental (composition without singing)

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French instrumental. By surface analysis, instrument +‎ -al.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˌin.stru.menˈtal/

### Adjective

instrumental m or n (feminine singular instrumentală, masculine plural instrumentali, feminine and neuter plural instrumentale)
* instrumental

#### Declension
## Serbo-Croatian
### Noun

ȉnstrumentāl m (Cyrillic spelling и̏нструмента̄л)
* (grammar) the instrumental case
* (music) a composition made for instruments only or a (version of some) song in which only the instruments are heard

#### Declension
## Slovene
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /íːnstrumɛntal/, /instrumɛntáːl/

### Noun

ȋnstrumental or instrumentȃl m inan
* (grammar) instrumental case
    Synonym: orodnik
* (music) instrumental music

#### Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

### Further reading

* “instrumental”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /instɾumenˈtal/ [ĩns.t̪ɾu.mẽn̪ˈt̪al]
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: ins‧tru‧men‧tal

### Adjective

instrumental m or f (masculine and feminine plural instrumentales)
* instrumental

#### Derived terms

* caso instrumental
* instrumentalidad
* instrumentalmente
* música instrumental

### Further reading

* “instrumental”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10