Instancing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The action of illustrating a general principle by using a specific example is essential for understanding complex ideas
2. The process of clarifying a concept or rule by providing a particular case to demonstrate it
3. Using a concrete instance to represent or explain a broader idea or principle in detail

Etymology: "Instancing" is the present participle of "instance," which as a verb meaning to cite a particular example of a general principle developed from a noun sense that first meant something quite different. In Latin, "instantia" meant a being near, a presence, or urgency and insistence, and the root "instans" meant pressing or urgent. Those ideas of pressing forward and insisting carried into Middle French as "instance," a word for an urgent request or petition, the sense that still survives in phrases like "at the instance of," meaning at someone's urging. The step from urgency to example happened gradually. Something that presses itself upon your attention is, in a sense, present before you, and a particular case that is brought forward can stand for a wider rule. English took "instance" in this sense of a case or example, and the verb use of showing a principle through a concrete case grew out of that noun.

Synonyms: illustrating, demonstrating, exemplifying, showing, representing