To use someone or something as a means to an end.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- instrumentalize a concept
- instrumentalize a group
On the page
The argument instrumentalized the concept rather than examining its original purpose.
The critique asked whether the policy instrumentalized the people it claimed to assist.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- instrumentalize
- Past tense
- instrumentalized
- Past participle
- instrumentalized
- Present participle
- instrumentalizing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- instrumentalize
- Present continuous
- am/is/are instrumentalizing
- Present perfect
- have/has instrumentalized
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been instrumentalizing
- Past
- instrumentalized
- Past continuous
- was/were instrumentalizing
- Past perfect
- had instrumentalized
- Past perfect continuous
- had been instrumentalizing
- Future
- will instrumentalize
- Future continuous
- will be instrumentalizing
- Future perfect
- will have instrumentalized
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been instrumentalizing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: instrumentalize; instrumentalizes; instrumentalized; instrumentalized; instrumentalizing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: institutional and conceptual change, philosophical orientation, qualification of recurrence and degree. Disciplines: academic writing, philosophy, cross-disciplinary analysis. Commonness: uncommon. Third-person singular: instrumentalizes.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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