"represent by an instance," 1946, from instance (Latin instantia) + -ate. Related: Instantiated; instantiation.
Entries linking to instantiate
instance n.
late 14c., "urgency, insistence" (a sense now archaic), from Old French instance "effort, application; urgency, eagerness, anxiety" (13c.), from Latin instantia "presence, effort, intention; earnestness, urgency," literally "a standing near," from instans (see instant).
In logic, "a fact, a case, an example" (a sense in English from early 15c.), from Medieval Latin instantia, which translated Greek enstasis. This led to for instance "as an example" (1650s), and the noun phrase give (someone) a for instance (1953, American English). The general sense "anything that illustrates a general type" was in use by 19c.
-ate 1
word-forming element used in forming nouns from Latin words ending in -atus, -atum (such as estate, primate, senate). Those that came to English via French often arrived with -at, but an -e was added after c. 1400 to indicate the long vowel. The suffix also can mark adjectives formed from Latin past participles in -atus, -ata (such as desolate, moderate, separate); again, they often were adopted in Middle English as -at, with an -e appended after c. 1400.