instrumentalizev.
/ˌɪnstrᵿˈmɛntl̩ʌɪz/, U.S. /ˌɪnstrəˈmɛn(t)lˌaɪz/ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > render instrumental [verb (transitive)]
instrumentalize1594
instrument1623
1594 R. Carew tr. J. Huarte Exam. Mens Wits sig. Avii He instrumentalized [It. organizò] their braine in such sort, as they might receiue it with ease.
?1630 T. Adams Wks. 1142 God first instrumentalliz'd a perfect body, and then infused a liuely soule.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > measure by or as an instrument [verb (transitive)] > measure by means of instruments
instrumentalize1610
say1826
1610 W. Folkingham Feudigraphia ii. iv. 53 If the place cannot bee brought within view, instrumentalize the tract at Randon.
1610 W. Folkingham Feudigraphia ii. iv. 53 To instrumentalize a distance, first point-forth two competent stations, and from the first quantulate the angle betwixt the marke and second station.
3.
a. transitive. To perform (a piece of music) using a musical instrument or instruments. Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > playing instruments > play instrument [verb (transitive)] > play (music) on instrument
playc1330
touchc1425
strike1597
to play up1750
instrumentalize1853
1853 Reasoner 16 Mar. 37 Accompanied by the ‘Brunswick Brass Band’, a corps of young Germans who instrumentalised admirably.
1924 Musical Times 65 18/2 An instrument that would stand the tension necessary to compete with the voice when ‘instrumentalising’ vocal music, i.e., playing the voice-part on the instrument.
1944 Daily Telegram (Adrian, Michigan) 25 Mar. 3/7 Melodies for the rollicking picture are instrumentalized by Freddie Slack and his orchestra.
2008 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 6 Jan. (Front section) 10/4 In the studio, Ms. Kruse refined the lyric, added a chorus, and used a Mac to program a beat and instrumentalize as she picked out a melody on the keyboard.
b. transitive. To arrange or score (a piece of music) for instruments, esp. for an orchestra. Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > composing music > compose [verb (transitive)] > score or orchestrate
instrument1822
score1839
rescore1846
instrumentalize1855
orchestrate1861
symphonize1932
overscore1947
1855 Musical World 7 July 437/1 A performance of Händel's Judas Maccabaeus, newly instrumentalized by Lindpaintner, was lately given by the Liedertafel.
1904 Amer. Monthly Rev. of Reviews Apr. 495 The popular melodies of the sparkling ‘Spanish Caprice’, of the magical ‘Scheherazade’, for example, he harmonizes, develops, and instrumentalizes truly as a Russian.
2014 tr. P. Wegele Max Steiner i. 17 Wagner and Mahler..regularly instrumentalized for four instruments in each brass or woodwind section.
4. transitive. To make or render (something) instrumental to accomplishing a purpose or result; to use as a means to an end.
ΚΠ
1863 Dublin Univ. Mag. Feb. 177/1 Several of them [sc. Voltaire's affairs de cœur] were, doubtless, platonic, the feelings thus generated being instrumentalized for dramatic and poetic creation.
1892 Proc. 2nd Ecumenical Methodist Conf. 1891 211 The preacher needs in addition to a manly nature high qualities of mind and proper qualities of body also, that can be instrumentalized to his purposes.
1943 Social Forces 22 371/2 Peaceful and prosperous human community life..must be effectively organized or instrumentalized into cooperative effort patterns.
1993 C. Hill Soul of Wit 17 Communication is no longer instrumentalized to serve the ends of personal aggrandizement, but becomes an end in itself.
2002 Isis 93 727/2 He instrumentalized Darwinism as a weapon against idealism and clericalism.
Derivatives
ˌinstrumentaliˈzation n.
ΚΠ
1840 Age 7 June 182/1 Admiration is constantly exhorted for the skill Weber shows in his superb instrumentalization.
1921 Pacific Coast Musical Rev. 15 Oct. 1/2 The tendency of the Quintet in a general way is to extend the scope of instrumentalization of chamber music.
1938 Amer. Sociol. Rev. 3 772 The development and instrumentalization of science and scientific technology.
2010 Guardian 6 Mar. (Weekend Suppl.) 61/1 A phenomenon you might call instrumentalisation: taking aspects of social existence we'd previously thought of as ends in themselves (making friends, giving gifts) and turning them into means, co-opting them for other agendas.
ˌinstruˈmentalized adj.
ΚΠ
1594 R. Carew tr. J. Huarte Exam. Mens Wits iv. 50 If a reasonable soule informe a well instrumentalized body [It. un corpo bene organizato]..his knowledge comes little behind that of the subtillest deuill.
1609 N. Morgan Perfection of Horse-manship xxxvii. 115 Some Horses are Iadish in qualitie, and some good in qualitie, which groweth from hauing their braine well or euill instrumentalized.
1921 F. Tannenbaum Labor Movement i. iv. 51 A certain pride in one's orbit of dominance and creation which the instrumentalized factory employee does not know.
2014 Church Times 28 Feb. 25/4 This approach only creates instrumentalised relationships.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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