different between instruct vs remark

English

Etymology

From Latin ?nstr?ctus, perfect passive participle of ?nstru? (“I instruct; I arrange, furnish, or provide”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n?st??kt/
• Rhymes: -?kt

Verb

instruct (third-person singular simple present instructs, present participle instructing, simple past and past participle instructed)

1. (transitive) To teach by giving instructions.

   Synonyms: educate, guide

   • c. 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act I, Scene 3,^[1]

     Supply me with the habit and instruct me

     How I may formally in person bear me

     Like a true friar.

   • 1682, Aphra Behn, The False Count, London: Jacob Tonson, Act III, Scene 2, p. 33,^[2]

     What a dishonour’s this, to me, to have so Dull a Father, that needs to be instructed in his Duty.

   • 1751, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 156, 14 September, 1751, in Volume 5, London: J. Payne and J. Bouquet, 1752, p. 177,^[3]

     […] the design of tragedy is to instruct by moving the passions,

   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Chapter 10,^[4]

     […] I should deem you a man sore sick, it may be, yet not so sick but that an instructed and watchful physician might well hope to cure you.

   • 1974, Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, New York: William Morrow, Part 4, Chapter 29, p. 353,^[5]

     At the Laundromat I instruct Chris on how to operate the drier, start the washing machines […]

2. (transitive) To tell (someone) what they must or should do.

   Synonyms: command, direct, order

   Usage note: "instruct" is less forceful than "order", but weightier than "advise"

   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act III, Scene 1,^[6]

     What, shall a child instruct you what to do?

   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 39,^[7]

     All the servants were instructed to address her as “Mum,” or “Madam” […]

   • 1989, John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany, New York: Ballantine, 1997, Chapter 5, p. 195,^[8]

     Observing that the Christ Child’s nose was running, she deftly wiped it; then she held the handkerchief in place, while instructing him to “blow.”

Related terms

Translations

Noun

instruct (plural instructs)

1. (obsolete) Instruction.

Adjective

instruct (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Arranged; furnished; provided.
   • c. 1615, George Chapman (translator), Homer’s Odysses, London: Nathaniell Butter, Book 4, p. 62,^[9]

     For he had neither ship, instruct with oares,

     Nor men to fetch him from those stranger shores.

2. (obsolete) Instructed; taught; enlightened.
   • 1671, John Milton, Paradise Regained, London: John Starkey, Book 1, lines 438-441, p. 24,^[10]

     Who ever by consulting at thy shrine

     Return’d the wiser, or the more instruct

     To flye or follow what concern’d him most,

     And run not sooner to his fatal snare?

Anagrams

• unstrict

English

Etymology 1

From Middle French remarquer, from Old French remarquer, from re- (“again”) + marquer (“to mark”); see mark.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /???m??k/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???m??k/
• Rhymes: -??(?)k

Noun

remark (countable and uncountable, plural remarks)

1. An act of pointing out or noticing; notice or observation.
2. An expression, in speech or writing, of something remarked or noticed; a mention of something
   • 1844, Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit

     But the journey might have been one of several hours’ duration, without provoking a remark from either; for it was clear that Jonas did not mean to break the silence which prevailed between them, and that it was not, as yet, his dear friend’s cue to tempt them into conversation.

3. A casual observation, comment, or statement
   • 2014, Stephen King, Mr. Mercedes: A Novel

     He remembers something Pete Huntley said at lunch, just a remark in passing, and the answer comes to him.

4. (engraving) Alternative form of remarque

Related terms

• counterremark
• remarkable

Translations

Verb

remark (third-person singular simple present remarks, present participle remarking, simple past and past participle remarked)

1. (intransitive) To make a remark or remarks; to comment.
2. (transitive) To express in words or writing; to state; to make a comment

   He remarked that it was getting late.
3. (transitive) To pay heed to; notice; to take notice of
   • 1889 January 3, Antoine D'Abbadie, in a letter to the editor of Nature, volume 39, pages 247-248:

     When travelling in Spain, Willkomm remarked qobar at a distance of 3 or 4 miles, yet, on reaching the actual spot, he saw nothing.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To mark in a notable manner; to distinguish clearly; to make noticeable or conspicuous; to point out.
   • 1633, John Ford, Tis Pity She's a Whore

     Thou art a man remark'd to taste a mischief.

   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes

     His manacles remark him; there he sits.

Translations

Etymology 2

re- +? mark

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??i?m??k/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??i??m??k/
• Rhymes: -??(?)k

Noun

remark (plural remarks)

1. Alternative spelling of re-mark

Verb

remark (third-person singular simple present remarks, present participle remarking, simple past and past participle remarked)

1. Alternative spelling of re-mark

Further reading

• remark in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• remark in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Kramer, marker