installment
/ɪnˈstoːl.mənt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.58 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
One of a series of parts, whether equal or unequal to the other parts of the series, of a given entity or a given process, which part presents or is presented at a particular scheduled interval.
American usage
noun
Any of a series of portions of a debt or sum of money, which portions may or may not be equal in amount (depending in part on whether the interest rate is fixed or variable), and payment of which takes place at regular intervals toward satisfaction of the total. Payments are generally mensual, quarterly, triannual, biannual, or annual.
American usage
Example Sentences
- "Not to give rise to suspicion, I drank when they were looking, and when able to do it unperceived, I quietly deposited the contents, by installments, under the table."
- "Granted, this was but the first installment in the long process of “hatching” and mastering a dragon egg, but it was a good start."
- "The blessings of the kingdom (healing, freedom, Stan's defat, abundant life, relationship with the King) are available now. Yet they are available only as a foretaste, the first installment of what will come when Christ returns."
- "Now bands like Mumford and the Lumineers are fulfilling that role, but they're also becoming the latest installment of the whole "indie goes mainstream"/"mainstream co-opt indie" thing that's been happening since Seth Cohen's heyday -- or, you know, since Don Draper married Megan."
- "With The Two Towers, the new installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, about to storm the box office, we are seeing what might be called the enchanting of America."
- "It is a serial story which we are all reading, and which grows in vital interest with each successive installment."
Etymology
A 1732 alteration of estallment, from Anglo-Norman estaler (“fix payments”), from Old French estal (“fixed position”), from Old High German stal (“stall", "standing place”) The sense of "part of a whole produced in advance of the rest" is from 1823.
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪnˈstoːl.mənt/
- British English: /ɪnˈstɔːl.mənt/