• IPA: /ˈɪnstəns/

instance (plural instances)

1. (obsolete) Urgency of manner or words; an urgent request; insistence. [14th-19th c.]
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821 ↗:

     I know one very well alied, to whom, at the instance of a brother of his […], I spake to that purpose […].

   • 1814 July 6, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. In Three Volumes, volume (please specify ), Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, OCLC 270129598 ↗:

     {quote-meta/quote

2. (obsolete) A token; a sign; a symptom or indication.

   It sends some precious instance of itself/ After the thing it loves. Hamlet IV. v. ca. 1602

3. (obsolete) That which is urgent; motive.
   • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:

     The instances that second marriage move
     Are base respects of thrift, but none of love.

4. Occasion; order of occurrence.

   • These seem as if, in the time of Edward I., they were drawn up into the form of a law, in the first instance.

5. A case offered as an exemplification or a precedent; an illustrative example. [from 16th c.]

   • most remarkable instances of suffering

   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970 ↗:

     :

     sometimes we love those that are absent, saith Philostratus, and gives instance in his friend Athenodorus, that loved a maid at Corinth whom he never saw […]

6. One of a series of recurring occasions, cases, essentially the same.
   • 2010, The Guardian, 11 Oct 2010:

     The organisations claim fraudsters are targeting properties belonging to both individuals and companies, in some instances using forged documents.

7. (obsolete) A piece of evidence; a proof or sign (of something). [16th-18th c.]
   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors:

     The reason that I gather he is mad, Besides this present instance of his rage, Is a mad tale he told to day at dinner […]

8. (computing) A specific occurrence of something that is created or instantiated, such as a database, or an object of a class in object-oriented programming. [from 20th c.]
   • 2000, Dov Bulka, ‎David Mayhew, Efficient C++: Performance Programming Techniques (page 149)

     Some compilers will allow statics to be inlined, but then incorrectly create multiple instances of the inlined variable at run-time.

9. (massively multiplayer online games) A dungeon or other area that is duplicated for each player, or each party of players, that enters it, so that each player or party has a private copy of the area, isolated from other players.
   • 2006 September 1, "Dan" (username), "Re: DPS Classes: Why should I heal you? ↗", in alt.games.warcraft, Usenet:

     As long as the most difficult instance you've tried is Gnomeregan, you're never going to be credible talking about 'difficult encounters'.

   • 2010, William Sims Bainbridge, Online Multiplayer Games, Morgan & Claypool, ISBN 9781608451425, page 26:

     For example, when a team of five players enters the Sunken Temple instance in World of Warcraft, they will battle many monsters, but they will not encounter other players even though several teams of players may be experiencing the Sunken Temple at the same time.

   • 2012, anonymous gamer quoted in Andrew Ee & Hichang Cho, "What Makes an MMORPG Leader? A Social Cognitive Theory-Based Approach to Understanding the Formation of Leadership Capabilities in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ↗", Eludamos, volume 6, page 31:

     Beating a difficult instance becomes second nature after running through it…a few times, with good leaders knowing exactly what to do and how to co-ordinate member actions.

10. (massively multiplayer online games) An individual copy of such a dungeon or other area.
    • 2005 January 11, Patrick B., "Re: Instance dungeons ↗", in alt.games.warcraft, Usenet:

      The instance is created for the group that enters it.

    • 2005 December 6, "Rene" (username), "Re: Does group leader affect drops? ↗", in alt.games.warcraft, Usenet:

      As soon as the first player enters (spawns) a new instance, it appears that the loottable is somehow chosen.

    • 2010, Anthony Steed & Manuel Fradinho Oliveira, Networked Graphics: Building Networked Games and Virtual Environments, Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-12-374423-4, page 398:

      A castle on the eastern edge of the island spawns a new instance whenever a party of players enters.

• instancy
• instant
• instantaneous
• instantial
• instantiate
• instantly

• French: instance
• German: Beispiel, Fall
• Italian: volta
• Portuguese: exemplo
• Russian: приме́р
• Spanish: caso, ejemplo

• Portuguese: ocorrência, ocasião
• Russian: слу́чай
• Spanish: caso, ocasión

• German: Instanz
• Portuguese: instância
• Russian: экземпля́р
• Spanish: instancia

instance (instances, present participle instancing; past and past participle instanced)

1. (transitive) To mention as a case or example; to refer to; to cite

   to instance a fact

   • 1946, E. M. Butler, Rainer Maria Rilke, p. 404 ↗

     The poems which I have instanced are concrete and relatively glaring examples of the intangible difference which the change of language made in Rilke's visions .

2. (intransitive) To cite an example as proof; to exemplify.