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frequently_asked_questions_files/Oxford Thesaurus.pdf

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instrument<br />

n. 1 implement, tool, device, apparatus, utensil, appliance,<br />

contrivance, mechanism, gadget, Colloq contraption, thingumabob,<br />

thingumajig, thingummy, thingy, whatsit, what's-its-name,<br />

whatnot, what-d'you-call-it, Brit gubbins, US gismo or gizmo:<br />

Which instrument should I use to loosen this bolt? The doctor<br />

extracted the splinter with some sort of instrument. 2 agency,<br />

means, way, factor, mechanism, instrumentality, wherewithal,<br />

(prime) mover, catalyst, agent: Summers refused to be the<br />

instrument of bringing free people into slavery. 3 contract,<br />

(legal) document, (written) agreement, pact, compact, paper:<br />

After the signing, copies of the instruments were exchanged.<br />

instrumental<br />

adj. helpful, useful, utilitarian, contributory, of service,<br />

supportive, supporting, advantageous, catalytic, conducive,<br />

beneficial, valuable, significant, important; accessory,<br />

ancillary: Your presence will be instrumental in effecting a<br />

favourable settlement.<br />

insubordinate<br />

adj. disobedient, rebellious, defiant, refractory, mutinous,<br />

insurgent, insurrectional, insurrectionist, revolutionary,<br />

seditious, incompliant or uncompliant, uncooperative,<br />

recalcitrant, contumacious, fractious, unruly, perverse,<br />

contrary, obstreperous, Colloq Brit stroppy: The insubordinate<br />

officers have been court-martialled.<br />

insubstantial<br />

adj. 1 unsubstantial, insignificant, meagre, diaphanous, small,<br />

flimsy, frail, weak, feeble, paltry, puny, slight, thin,<br />

tenuous, fragile, light, gossamer, wispy, wisp-like, fine:<br />

Though the spider's thread appears insubstantial, for its weight<br />

it is enormously strong. 2 illusory, unreal, illusive,<br />

imaginary, imagined, fanciful, fancied, visionary, immaterial,<br />

intangible, impalpable, incorporeal, airy, ethereal, spiritual,<br />

chimerical, phantom, phantasmal, phantasmagorical,<br />

hallucinatory, fantastic; false: Through the mist London seemed<br />

insubstantial, a dream city of vapours rising from the Thames.<br />

insufferable<br />

adj. unbearable, insupportable or unsupportable, intolerable,<br />

unendurable, impossible: The babysitter said she refused ever

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