1. instance - Noun
2. instance - Verb
The act or quality of being instant or pressing; urgency; solicitation; application; suggestion; motion.
That which is instant or urgent; motive.
That which offers itself or is offered as an illustrative case; something cited in proof or exemplification; a case occurring; an example.
A token; a sign; a symptom or indication.
To mention as a case or example; to refer to; to cite; as, to instance a fact.
To give an example.
Source: Webster's dictionaryRemember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance. John Ruskin
Nothing is so great an instance of ill-manners as flattery. If you flatter all the company, you please none if you flatter only one or two, you affront the rest. Jonathan Swift
There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare. Sun Tzu
For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled. Hunter S. Thompson
He who is void of virtuous Attachments in private Life, is, or very soon will be void of all Regard for his Country. There is seldom an Instance of a Man guilty of betraying his Country, who had not before lost the Feeling of moral Obligations in his private Connections. Samuel Adams
I too complain ceaselessly in my heart and in my words too. My very life is a protest. Against government, for instance. Dorothy Day