instruction - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English instruccioun, from Old French instruccion, from Latin instructio; equivalent to instruct +‎ -ion.

instruction (countable and uncountable, plural instructions)

  1. (uncountable) The act of instructing, teaching, or providing with information or knowledge.
    Students receive instruction in the arts and sciences.
    Instruction will be provided on how to handle difficult customers.
    • 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 5, in Pulling the Strings:
      Anstruther laughed good-naturedly. “[…] I shall take out half a dozen intelligent maistries from our Press and get them to give our villagers instruction when they begin work and when they are in the fields.”
  2. (countable) An instance of the information or knowledge so furnished.
  3. (countable) An order or command.
    • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
      Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
  4. (in the plural) A set of directions provided by a manufacturer for the users of a product or service.
  5. (law, in the plural) The directions given by a client to their lawyer in relation to a particular legal matter, which govern the purpose and scope of their work.
    I cannot act until I have taken instructions from my client.
  6. (computing) A single operation of a processor defined by an instruction set architecture.

act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information

that which instructs, or with which one is instructed

order or command

single operation of a processor

Learned borrowing from Latin īnstrūctiōnem.

instruction f (plural instructions)

  1. (chiefly in the plural) instruction, direction
  2. (chiefly in the plural) order
    Near-synonyms: directive, ordre
  3. training, teaching
  4. (law) investigation, enquiry
    juge d'instruction ― examining magistrate