instrument
(also financial instrument) /ˈɪnstrəmənt/ noun [C]Definition
› FINANCE a financial asset that can be bought or sold, such as a bond, share, or other security : Fixed-income instruments include bonds, Treasury bills, and notes. This will still leave sufficient funds in low-risk instruments such as the debt market. Hedging instruments such as futures contracts are priced in dollars.
› a tool, especially one without electrical power, used for performing a particular piece of work: surgical/precision/optical instrument The first optical instruments were telescopes.
› a piece of equipment used for measuring speed, height, etc. in vehicles, especially aircraft: flight instruments
› a way of achieving or causing something: The main instrument of change was the bank credit card.
› LAW a legal document: This is a legal instrument and both claims will have to be decided by the English High Court.
→ See also debt instrument, equity instrument, money-market instrument, negotiable instrument, statutory instrument, trust instrument(Definition of instrument noun from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary
© Cambridge University Press)
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