instrumentality
nounUS, UK /ˌɪnstɹʊmɛnˈtælɪti/
Etymology From instrumental + -ity.
1
The condition or quality of being instrumental; being useful; serving a purpose.
- In a later vision the Saviour revealed to her in detail the 'great design' which he wished to establish through her instrumentality.1902, William James, “Lectures XIV and XV: The Value of Saintliness”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 344:
2
Something that is instrumental; an instrument.
- He spoke of the various instrumentalities which were now employed for the conversion of the world.1838, American Anti-Slavery Society, The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 2 of 4:
- Delays and failures will only set her to casting about for new instrumentalities.1873, Helen Hunt Jackson, Bits About Home Matters:
1 more example
- God works by instrumentalities, and he has wonderfully thus far interposed in keeping evils that I feared in abeyance.1914, Samuel F. B. Morse, Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals:
3
Law A governmental organ with a specific purpose.
- Any work in which the copyright was ever owned or administered by the Alien Property Custodian and in which the restored copyright would be owned by a government or instrumentality thereof, is not a restored work.1994, Title 17 of the United States Code, §104A(a)(2):