Instrumental vs. Instrumentary

Instrumentaladjective

essential or central; of great importance or relevance.

Instrumentaladjective

(music) Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for, an instrument, especially a musical instrument (rather than the human voice).

Instrumentaladjective

(grammar) Applied to a case expressing means or agency, generally indicated in English by by or with with the objective.

Instrumentalnoun

(grammar) The instrumental case.

Instrumentalnoun

(music) A composition written or performed without lyrics, sometimes using a lead instrument to replace vocals.

Instrumentalnoun

The backing track of a song. The audio of a song without the vocal track.

Instrumentaladjective

Acting as an instrument; serving as a means; contributing to promote; conductive; helpful; serviceable; as, he was instrumental in conducting the business.

Instrumentaladjective

Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for, an instrument, esp. a musical instrument; as, instrumental music, distinguished from vocal music.

Instrumentaladjective

Applied to a case expressing means or agency; as, the instrumental case. This is found in Sanskrit and Russian as a separate case, but in Greek it was merged into the dative, and in Latin into the ablative. In Old English it was a separate case, but has disappeared, leaving only a few anomalous forms.

Instrumentaladjective

relating to or designed for or performed on musical instruments;

Instrumentaladjective

serving or acting as a means or aid;

Instrumental

An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instrumentals.

Instrumentaryadjective

(archaic) instrumental

Instrumentaryadjective

Instrumental.