Word.ws English Dictionary

instructing

instructing is the present participle and gerund of instruct.

Meaning of instruct

Verb

instruct (third-person singular simple present instructs, present participle instructing, simple past and past participle instructed)

  1. (transitive) To teach by giving instructions.
    • Listen carefully when someone instructs you how to assemble the furniture.
    Synonyms:
    educate, guide
  2. (transitive) To tell (someone) what they must or should do.
    • Usage note: "instruct" is less forceful than "order", but weightier than "advise"
    Synonyms:
    command, direct, order
  3. (transitive) 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.

See all 6 meanings of instruct

Words formed from instructing

Questions about instructing

What is instructing the present participle and gerund of?
Instructing is the present participle and gerund of instruct.

Words near instructing in the dictionary

  1. instructer
  2. instructers
  3. instructest
  4. instructeth
  5. instructible
  6. instructing
  7. instruction
  8. instruction cycle
  9. instruction cycles
  10. instruction set
  11. instruction set architecture

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: instructing (page history and authors); instruct (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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Cite this entry: “instructing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/instructing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.