Instance, Instant
Around the Vocabulary.com office, we might like an instance of tea, but we vehemently oppose instant tea.
That's because instance means an example or an occurrence:
Instant, on the other hand, mean immediately or urgently:
Oddly enough, the two are related. Instance dates back to 1380 as meaning the current time, but it comes from the Medieval Latin (through Old French) instantia, which refers to both presence and urgency. Instant dates to about the same time, prior to 1398, as meaning a specific moment. It comes from the Medieval Latin instantem, meaning present and urgent. Instant picked up its modern meaning of immediately around 1443 from its English definition and instance seems to have never meant urgency, creating a distinction between the two. But instant tea is still disgusting. (Description from Vocabulary.com) |