in·struc·tion 
(ĭn-strŭkshən)
(ĭn-strŭkshən)n.
1. The act, practice, or profession of instructing: math instruction.
2.
a. Imparted knowledge: We sought further instruction in a more advanced class.
b. An imparted or acquired item of knowledge: The judge gave the jury an instruction in how the law defines an accomplice.
3.
a. often instructions An authoritative direction to be obeyed; an order: had instructions to be home by midnight.
b. instructions Detailed directions about how to do something: read the instructions for assembly.
4. Computers A sequence of bits that tells a central processing unit to perform a particular operation and can contain data to be used in the operation.
in·struction·al adj.