Instancia

Instancia is a term used in Spanish and Portuguese that denotes a specific example, occurrence, or case of something. It can refer to a particular instance of a phenomenon, a concrete example in reasoning, or a stage in a process. In philosophy and logic, instantiation is the act of replacing a general statement with a specific example.

In computing, an instancia or instance is a concrete realization of a class or object. In object-oriented programming, an instance is an object created from a class, possessing its own identity and state. In databases and cloud services, the term refers to a running copy of a database engine or a virtual machine that provides compute resources.

In law, particularly in Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking jurisdictions, instancia can designate the level or stage of a judicial process, such as primera instancia (first instance) or segunda instancia (appeal), or the authority that processes a case during that stage.

The word originates from Latin and shares roots with the English word instance, reflecting its core idea of a particular occurrence derived from a more general concept. The term is widely used across disciplines, with meanings shaped by context, from everyday language to technical and legal frameworks.