instruct
UK/ɪnˈstɹʌkt/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ɪnˈstɹakt/
instruct verb: to teach by giving instructions.
Verb
instruct (third-person singular simple present instructs, present participle instructing, simple past and past participle instructed)
- To teach by giving instructions.
- Listen carefully when someone instructs you how to assemble the furniture.
- 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]...
- To tell (someone) what they must or should do.
- Usage note: "instruct" is less forceful than "order", but weightier than "advise"
- The doctor instructed me to keep my arm immobilised and begin physiotherapy.
- 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.
- If you're not careful, I'm going to instruct a solicitor over this.
Noun
instruct (plural instructs)
Adjective
instruct (not comparable)
- Arranged; furnished; provided.
- For he had neither ship, instruct with oares,
Nor men to fetch him from those stranger shores.c. 1615, George Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses, London: Nathaniell Butter, Book 4, p. 62
- For he had neither ship, instruct with oares,
- Instructed; taught; enlightened.
- Who ever by consulting at thy shrine
Return’d the wiser, or the more instruct
To flye or follow what concern’d him most,
And run not sooner to his fatal snare?1671, John Milton, Paradise Regained, London: John Starkey, Book 1, lines 438-441, p. 24
- Who ever by consulting at thy shrine
instruct meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
instruct in Tamil
- to instruct, impart, inculcate, teach
- போதி pōti
- to instruct; advise; exhort
- அறிவுறுத்து aṟivuṟuttu
instruct in Marathi
- to instruct
- कळवणे kaḷavṇe
instruct in Urdu
- بتلانا, درس دینا, ہدایت کرنا, سبق دینا, سکھانا, تعلیم دینا
instruct in Bengali
- নির্দেশ দেওয়া, শিক্ষা দেওয়া, জানানো
More languagesFewer languages
- instruct in Telugu
- ఉపదేశించు upadēśiñcu
- instruct in Malayalam
- പറയുക paṟayuka
- instruct in Kannada
- ಅಂಕಿಸು aṅkisu
- instruct in Odia
- ଶିଖାଇବା śikhāibā
- instruct in Sanskrit
- शास्ति śāsti
- instruct in Arabic
- لقَّن
Examples of instruct in a sentence
- 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...
- 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...
Synonyms of instruct
Forms of instruct
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | instructs |
| present participle | instructing |
| past participle | instructed |
| past | instructed |
| Noun | |
| plural | instructs |
Origin of instruct
From Latin īnstrūctus, perfect passive participle of īnstruō (“I instruct; I arrange, furnish, or provide”).
Words formed from instruct
Words that rhyme with instruct
Questions about instruct
- What does instruct mean?
- Instruct means to teach by giving instructions.
- What is instruct in Tamil?
- Instruct in Tamil is போதி (pōti), அறிவுறுத்து (aṟivuṟuttu). See Instruct meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use instruct in a sentence?
- What a dishonour’s this, to me, to have so Dull a Father, that needs to be instructed in his Duty.
- What part of speech is instruct?
- Instruct can be a verb, a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce instruct?
- Instruct is pronounced /ɪnˈstɹʌkt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of instruct?
- The past tense of instruct is instructed.
Words near instruct in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: instruct (page history and authors); அறிவுறுத்து (Tamil) (page history and authors); कळवणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); instruct (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Instruct (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ఉపదేశించు (Telugu) (page history and authors); പറയുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಅಂಕಿಸು (Kannada) (page history and authors); ଶିଖାଇବା (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-instruct.ogg.
Cite this entry: “instruct.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/instruct. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.