INSTAL (installed, installing)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: installed    , installing   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does instal mean? 

• INSTAL (verb)
  The verb INSTAL has 3 senses:

1. set up for use

2. put into an office or a position

3. place

  Familiarity information: INSTAL used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INSTAL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they instal    ... he / she / it instals   
Past simple: installed   
Past participle: installed   
-ing form: installing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Set up for use

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

instal; install; put in; set up

Context example:

We put in a new sink

Hypernyms (to "instal" is one way to...):

lay; place; pose; position; put; set (put into a certain place or abstract location)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "instal"):

retrofit (fit in or on an existing structure, such as an older house)

reinstall (install again)

post; put up (place so as to be noticed)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

They want to instal the doors

Derivation:

installing; instalment (the act of installing something (as equipment))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Put into an office or a position

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

instal; install

Context example:

the new president was installed immediately after the election

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "instal"):

induct; invest; seat (place ceremoniously or formally in an office or position)

enthrone; invest; vest (provide with power and authority)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Place

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

establish; instal; install; set up

Context example:

Her manager had set her up at the Ritz

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

The Commandant Ferraz Station was installed two years later, in February 1984, lodging military agents and scientists.

(Brazil ship off to Antarctica for research support, Agência Brasil)

No; he said he had known you long, and that he could take the liberty of installing himself here till you returned.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A small device installed under the skin to administer a steady dose of drugs.

(Implantable pump, NCI Dictionary)

The device software was not installed as per the specifications or failed to properly install.

(Device Software Installation Problem Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

A small device installed under the skin to provide long-term controlled-rate delivery of drugs such as chemotherapeutic agents or analgesics.

(Implantable pump, NCI Thesaurus)

Mrs. John Dashwood now installed herself mistress of Norland; and her mother and sisters-in-law were degraded to the condition of visitors.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

NASA's Apollo astronauts installed five seismometers that measured thousands of quakes while operating on the Moon between 1969 and 1977, revealing seismic activity on the Moon.

(NASA's InSight Detects First Likely 'Quake' on Mars, NASA)

"You rogue! You traitor! Jo, how could you?" cried the three girls, as Snodgrass led her friend triumphantly forth, and producing both a chair and a badge, installed him in a jiffy.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The biogas units at Chikkaballapur consist of underground composters filled with cattle dung to generate gas, which is then piped to kitchen stoves installed in village households.

(Shift to biogas helps revive forests, SciDev.Net)

“When I dismantled my old Pantheon and cast out Napoleon and Cæsar and their fellows, I straightway erected a new Pantheon,” she answered gravely, “and the first I installed was Dr. Jordan.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)