instance
noun
[ ˈɪnst(ə)ns ]
• an example or single occurrence of something.
• "a serious instance of corruption"
Similar:
example,
occasion,
occurrence,
case,
representative case,
typical case,
case in point,
illustration,
specimen,
sample,
exemplar,
exemplification,
instance
verb
• cite (a fact, case, etc.) as an example.
• "I instanced Bob as someone whose commitment had certainly got things done"
Similar:
cite,
quote,
refer to,
make reference to,
mention,
allude to,
adduce,
give,
give as an example,
point to,
point out,
specify,
name,
identify,
bring up,
invoke,
draw attention to,
call attention to,
put forward,
present,
offer,
advance,
propose,
Origin:
Middle English: via Old French from Latin instantia ‘presence, urgency’, from instare ‘be present, press upon’, from in- ‘upon’ + stare ‘to stand’. The original sense was ‘urgency, urgent entreaty’, surviving in at the instance of . In the late 16th century the word denoted a particular case cited to disprove a general assertion, derived from medieval Latin instantia ‘example to the contrary’ (translating Greek enstasis ‘objection’); hence the meaning ‘single occurrence’.
