instrumentation
noun
Simple meaning
The instruments used for a piece of music, or the set of tools and devices used to measure or control something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihnstruhmentayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnstɹəmɛnˈteɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The instruments called for in a musical score or arrangement for a band or orchestra
The arrangement of a musical composition for performance by a number of different instruments; instrumental composition; composition for an orchestra or military band.
The act of arranging a piece of music for an orchestra and assigning parts to the different musical instruments
The act or manner of playing upon musical instruments; performance.
The act of providing or using the instruments needed for some implementation
The act of using or adapting as an instrument; a series or combination of instruments.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- General and technical use
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The instruments called for in a musical score or arrangement for a band or orchestra
Used this way, instrumentation is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a musical use: it is everyday language among musicians and listeners, and specialised outside that.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Music/performance
- Arts writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use instrumentation
- “The new car's instrumentation panel displays speed, fuel, and other data clearly.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Artifact
Dynamic
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Related to The instruments called for in a musical score or arrangement for a band or orchestra.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.