Meanings
nouninstruction (countable and uncountable, plural instructions)
plural instructions
- uncountableThe act of instructing, teaching, or providing with information or knowledge.
Students receive instruction in the arts and sciences.
2 more examples
Instruction will be provided on how to handle difficult customers.
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.”
1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 5, in Pulling the Strings - countableAn instance of the information or knowledge so furnished.
If my instructions may be your guide.
c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii] - countableAn order or command.
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.
1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC - countablein pluraluncountableA set of directions provided by a manufacturer for the users of a product or service.
- countableuncountablecomputingA single operation of a processor defined by an instruction set architecture.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna message describing how something is to be done
Similar
Broader
nounthe activities of educating or instructing; activities that impart knowledge or skill
Broader
noun(computer science) a line of code written as part of a computer program
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
- Proto-Italic*en
- Proto-Italic*en-
- Latinin-
- Proto-Indo-European*ster-
- Proto-Indo-European*sterh₃-
- Proto-Indo-European*strew-
- Proto-Indo-European*stréweti
- Proto-Italic*strowō
- Latinstruō
- Latinīnstruō
- Latinīnstrūctiō
- Old Frenchinstruccion
- Middle Englishinstruccioun
- Englishinstruction
From Middle English instruccioun, from Old French instruccion, from Latin instructio; equivalent to instruct + -ion.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans onderrig, instruksie
- onderrigact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- instruksieorder or command
- instruksiesset of directions provided by a manufacturer
- instruksiesingle operation of a processor
Arabic تَعْلِيم, أَمْر
- تَعْلِيم (taʕlīm)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- أَمْر (ʔamr)single operation of a processor
Bengali তালিম
- তালিম (talim)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
Bulgarian обучение, инструктаж
- обучение (obučenie)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- инструктаж (instruktaž)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- директива (direktiva)order or command
- инструкция (instrukcija)set of directions provided by a manufacturer
- инструкция (instrukcija)single operation of a processor
- инструкция (instrukcija)that which instructs, or with which one is instructed
- указание (ukazanie)that which instructs, or with which one is instructed
Catalan instrucció, encàrrec
- instruccióact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- encàrrecorder or command
- instrucciósingle operation of a processor
Chinese Mandarin 教導 /教导, 指令
- 教導 /教导 (jiàodǎo)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- 指令 (zhǐlìng)order or command
- 指令 (zhǐlìng)single operation of a processor
Czech instrukce
- instrukcesingle operation of a processor
Danish vejledning, vejlederen
- vejledningact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- vejlederenthat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
Dutch onderwijs, aanwijzing
- onderwijsact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- aanwijzingorder or command
- instructiesingle operation of a processor
Esperanto instruado, komando
- instruadoact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- komandoorder or command
- instrukcioorder or command
Finnish opastus, opettaminen
- opastusact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- opettaminenact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- ohjaaminenact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- käyttöohjeorder or command
- käyttöohjeset of directions provided by a manufacturer
- käskysingle operation of a processor
- opastusthat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
- ohjethat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
French instruction, instruction
- instructionact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- instructionorder or command
German Unterricht, Anweisung
- Unterrichtact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- Anweisungorder or command
- Assemblerbefehlsingle operation of a processor
- Anweisungthat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
Greek οδηγία, εκπαίδευση
- οδηγία (odigía)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- εκπαίδευση (ekpaídefsi)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- εντολή (entolí)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- κατάρτιση (katártisi)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- εντολή (entolí)single operation of a processor
- οδηγία (odigía)that which instructs, or with which one is instructed
- συμβουλή (symvoulí)that which instructs, or with which one is instructed
Hebrew הוראה, הוראה
- הוראה (Hora'ah)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- הוראה (Hora'ah)single operation of a processor
Hindi उपदेश, शिक्षण
- उपदेश (updeś)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- शिक्षण (śikṣaṇ)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- तालीम (tālīm)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- अनुदेश (anudeś)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- आदेश (ādeś)order or command
- निर्देश (nirdeś)order or command
- निदेश (nideś)order or command
- आज्ञा (ājñā)order or command
- हुक्म (hukma)order or command
- अनुदेश (anudeś)order or command
- निर्देश (nirdeś)set of directions provided by a manufacturer
- आदेश (ādeś)single operation of a processor
Hungarian útmutatás, oktatás
- útmutatásact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- oktatásact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- tanításact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- képzésact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- kiképzésact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- tanfolyamact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- utasításorder or command
- rendelkezésorder or command
- parancsorder or command
- használati utasításset of directions provided by a manufacturer
- utasítássingle operation of a processor
Indonesian instruksi, instruksi
- instruksiact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- instruksiorder or command
- instruksisingle operation of a processor
Irish teagasc, treoir
- teagascact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- treoirsingle operation of a processor
- treoirthat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
Italian istruzione, addestramento
- istruzioneact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- addestramentoact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- insegnamentoact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- tirocinioact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- bugiardinoset of directions provided by a manufacturer
- istruzioni d'usoset of directions provided by a manufacturer
- manuale d'usoset of directions provided by a manufacturer
- manualeset of directions provided by a manufacturer
- avvertenzeset of directions provided by a manufacturer
- direttiveset of directions provided by a manufacturer
- istruzionesingle operation of a processor
Japanese 指示, 説明書
- 指示 (shiji)order or command
- 説明書 (setsumei-sho)set of directions provided by a manufacturer
- 使用説明 (shiyō setsumei)set of directions provided by a manufacturer
- 命令 (meirei)single operation of a processor
Latin īnstructiō, doctrina
- īnstructiōact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- doctrinaact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- disciplinaact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- auditioact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
Malay arahan
- arahanact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
Norwegian veiledning
- veiledningact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
Persian آموزه, آموزش
- آموزهact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- آموزشact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- دستورorder or command
- فرمانorder or command
- راهنمالsingle operation of a processor
Portuguese instrução, instrução
- instruçãoact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- instruçãosingle operation of a processor
- instruçãothat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
Romanian instruire, învățare
- instruireact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- învățareact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- învățământact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- instrucțiunesingle operation of a processor
- instrucțiunethat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
- indicațiethat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
- învățăturăthat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
- îndrumarethat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
Russian инстру́кция, инструкта́ж
- инстру́кция (instrúkcija)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- инструкта́ж (instruktáž)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- наставле́ние (nastavlénije)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- обуче́ние (obučénije)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- инстру́кция (instrúkcija)single operation of a processor
- инстру́кция (instrúkcija)that which instructs, or with which one is instructed
- указа́ние (ukazánije)that which instructs, or with which one is instructed
- предписа́ние (predpisánije)that which instructs, or with which one is instructed
- распоряже́ние (rasporjažénije)that which instructs, or with which one is instructed
Scottish Gaelic stiùireadh, teagasg
- stiùireadhact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- teagasgact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- stiùireadhthat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
- teagasgthat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
Spanish instrucción
- instrucciónthat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
Swahili agizo, agizo
- agizoact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- agizoorder or command
- agizosingle operation of a processor
Swedish instruktion, undervisning
- instruktionact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- undervisningact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- skolväsenact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- instruktionsingle operation of a processor
- instruktörthat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
Urdu اُپْدیش
- اُپْدیش (updeś)act of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
Vietnamese hướng dẫn, hướng dẫn
- hướng dẫnact of instructing, teaching, or furnishing with knowledge; information
- hướng dẫnthat which instructs, or with which one is instructed
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with instruction
constructionintroductionreductiondestructioninductiondeductionsuctiontransductionconductiontraductioneductioncircumductioneffluxionelectroreductionfluxionoutroductionruction
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
instruction. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/instruction
MLA
“instruction.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/instruction. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “instruction,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/instruction.
Source: instruction on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.