instantiate
verbUK, US /ɪnˈstænʃieɪt/
Etymology From Latin instāntia + -ate (verb-forming suffix). By surface analysis, instance + -ate.
1
To represent (a concept, theme, or principle) by an instance.
- To see and test the result of one's CSS for any particular HTML element, one must instantiate that element in a document.
- In the eighteenth century, this was instantiated in writings which developed the view that ‘savages’ exhibited more virtue and moral nobility than their conquerors.2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 195:
2
To create an object (an instance) of a specific class.
Object-oriented programming
- To instantiate a class, we call its constructor.
- Derived terms
- coinstantiate, coinstantiated, coinstantiation, instantiable, instantiatable, instantiation, instantiator, reinstantiate, reinstantiation, uninstantiate, uninstantiated
- Related terms
- coinstantial, instantial