Instruct
adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Instruction. obsolete
- 1 To teach by giving instructions. transitive
"Listen carefully when someone instructs you how to assemble the furniture."
- 2 give instructions or directions for some task wordnet
- 3 To tell (someone) what they must or should do. transitive
"Usage note: "instruct" is less forceful than "order", but weightier than "advise""
- 4 impart skills or knowledge to wordnet
- 5 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."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 make aware of wordnet
- 1 Arranged; furnished; provided. not-comparable, obsolete
"For he had neither ship, instruct with oares, Nor men to fetch him from those stranger shores."
- 2 Instructed; taught; enlightened. not-comparable, obsolete
"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?"
Example
More examples"I'll instruct you this once, and only this once; thus, you'd better be ready."
Etymology
From Latin īnstrūctus, perfect passive participle of īnstruō (“I instruct; I arrange, furnish, or provide”).
More for "instruct"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.