Instruct

/ɪnˈstɹʌkt/ · verb

Meaning

(transitive) To teach by giving instructions..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To teach by giving instructions.
2. (transitive) To tell (someone) what they must or should do.
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.
4. (obsolete) Instruction.
5. (obsolete) Arranged; furnished; provided.
6. (obsolete) Instructed; taught; enlightened.

Example Sentences

Listen carefully when someone instructs you how to assemble the furniture.

1751, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 156, 14 September, 1751, in Volume 5, London: J. Payne and J. Bouquet, 1752, p. 177, […] the design of tragedy is to instruct by moving the passions,

Supply me with the habit and instruct me How I may formally in person bear me Like a true friar.

What a dishonour’s this, to me, to have so Dull a Father, that needs to be instructed in his Duty.

[…] 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.

At the Laundromat I instruct Chris on how to operate the drier, start the washing machines […]

Usage note: "instruct" is less forceful than "order", but weightier than "advise"

The doctor instructed me to keep my arm immobilised and begin physiotherapy.

Synonyms for instruct

Antonyms for instruct

Related Words

Word Forms

• instructs
• instructing
• instructed

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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