INSTALMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does instalment mean? 

• INSTALMENT (noun)
  The noun INSTALMENT has 3 senses:

1. a part of a broadcast serial

2. a part of a published serial

3. the act of installing something (as equipment)

  Familiarity information: INSTALMENT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INSTALMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A part of a broadcast serial

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

episode; installment; instalment

Hypernyms ("instalment" is a kind of...):

broadcast; program; programme (a radio or television show)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "instalment"):

cliffhanger (an episode that ends in suspense)

Holonyms ("instalment" is a part of...):

serial; series (a serialized set of programs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A part of a published serial

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

installment; instalment

Hypernyms ("instalment" is a kind of...):

text; textual matter (the words of something written)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "instalment"):

fascicle; fascicule (an installment of a printed work)

Holonyms ("instalment" is a part of...):

serial; serial publication; series (a periodical that appears at scheduled times)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of installing something (as equipment)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

installation; installing; installment; instalment

Context example:

the telephone installation took only a few minutes

Hypernyms ("instalment" is a kind of...):

beginning; commencement; start (the act of starting something)

Derivation:

instal (set up for use)

 Context examples 

Serial stories, he found, were usually published in that weekly in five instalments of about three thousand words each.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But he was very penitent indeed, and in a peculiar way—not in the lump, but by instalments.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Such a murder case, occurring before the instalment of territorial law and officials, might well have been taken down to the United States for trial before a Federal court.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

He discovered several serials that ran to seven instalments, and decided to write one of that length.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

In this coffer, his riches hid themselves with such a tenacious modesty, that the smallest instalments could only be tempted out by artifice; so that Peggotty had to prepare a long and elaborate scheme, a very Gunpowder Plot, for every Saturday's expenses.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He had completed on that day the first instalment of three thousand words—much to the amusement of Jim, and to the open derision of Mr. Higginbotham, who sneered throughout meal-time at the litery person they had discovered in the family.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)