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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

instruct.

To teach by giving instructions.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɪnˈstɹʌkt/UK, US/ɪnˈstɹakt/Australia
  1. To teach by giving instructions.

    transitive
    Listen carefully when someone instructs you how to assemble the furniture.
  2. To tell (someone) what they must or should do.

    transitive
    The doctor instructed me to keep my arm immobilised and begin physiotherapy.
  3. To give (one's own lawyer) legal instructions as to how they should act in relation to a particular issue; thereby formally appointing them as one's own legal representative in relation to it.

    transitive
    If you're not careful, I'm going to instruct a solicitor over this.
Where this word comes from

From Latin īnstrūctus, perfect passive participle of īnstruō (“I instruct; I arrange, furnish, or provide”).

noun/ɪnˈstɹʌkt/UK, US/ɪnˈstɹakt/Australia
  1. Instruction.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Latin īnstrūctus, perfect passive participle of īnstruō (“I instruct; I arrange, furnish, or provide”).

adj/ɪnˈstɹʌkt/UK, US/ɪnˈstɹakt/Australia
  1. Arranged; furnished; provided.

    not-comparable · obsolete
  2. Instructed; taught; enlightened.

    not-comparable · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Latin īnstrūctus, perfect passive participle of īnstruō (“I instruct; I arrange, furnish, or provide”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.