Webster's English Dictionary

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instance

1. in.stance \'in(t)-st*n(t)s\ n archaic  1a: urgent or earnest 
   solicitation  1b: INSTIGATION, REQUEST  archaic  2a: EXCEPTION  2b: an 
   illustrative case  obs  2c: TOKEN, SIGN  obs  2d: DETAIL, CIRCUMSTANCE  3: 
   the institution and prosecution of a lawsuit : SUIT  4: an event that is 
   part of a process or series IMEN: INSTANCE applies to any individual 
   person, act, or thing that may be offered in support or disproof of a 
   general statement; CASE is used to direct attention to a real or assumed 
   occurrence or situation that is to be considered, studied, or dealt with; 
   ILLUSTRATION applies to an instance offered as a means of clarifying or 
   illuminating a general statement; EXAMPLE applies to a typical, 
   representative, or illustrative instance or case; SAMPLE implies a part or 
   unit taken at random from a larger whole and so presumed to be typical of 
   its qualities; SPECIMEN applies to any example or sample whether 
   representative or merely existent and available : as an example  - for 
   instance  SYN syn CASE, ILLUSTRATION, EXAMPLE, SAMPLE, SPEC 
2. instance vt 1: to illustrate or demonstrate by an instance  2: to 
   mention as a case or example : CITE