Definition

1. Noun:
   • An established organization or foundation, especially one dedicated to education, public service, or culture: A significant and enduring organization, such as a university, bank, museum, or hospital.
   • A significant custom, practice, or relationship in a society or culture: A fundamental social practice or system that is widely accepted and has historical importance.
   • The action of establishing or founding something: The act of instituting or initiating something.
   • (Informal) A person or thing that is a familiar and established feature of a particular place or activity: Someone or something so long-standing or characteristic as to be considered a permanent fixture.

Examples of Usage

• Noun (Organization):
  • Harvard University is a prestigious educational institution.
  • The museum is a national institution dedicated to preserving art.
• Noun (Social Custom):
  • Marriage is a social institution found in many cultures.
  • The institution of democracy is central to their constitution.
• Noun (Act of Establishing):
  • The institution of new safety protocols followed the accident.
• Noun (Informal: Familiar Feature):
  • After 40 years at the same café, the waiter had become a local institution.

Advanced Usage

• "Pillar of the institution": A person or principle that is fundamental to an organization's identity and stability.
  • She was considered a pillar of the institution for her decades of leadership.
• "Institutional memory": The collective knowledge, history, and experience preserved within an organization.
  • The company's institutional memory was lost when the senior staff retired.

Variants and Related Words

• Institutional (adj): Relating to or characteristic of an institution.
  • The building had a cold, institutional feel.
• Institutionalize (verb):
  • To establish as a norm or custom within an organization or society.

    • They sought to institutionalize the practice of regular reviews.
  • To place someone in a specialized residential facility (like a hospital or care home).

    • The law does not allow the state to institutionalize a person without due process.

Synonyms

• Establishment: An organization or public body.
• Organization: A group of people with a particular purpose.
• Custom: A traditional and widely accepted way of behaving.
• Foundation: The act of founding an institution or an organization itself.

Related Phrases

• Financial institution: An establishment like a bank or credit union that deals with financial transactions.
  • You need to provide proof of address to open an account at a financial institution.
• Penal institution: A prison or jail.
  • He was sentenced to five years in a penal institution.

Related Idioms

• An institution in its own right: Something that is so important and long-standing it is considered equivalent to a formal institution.
  • The annual village fair is an institution in its own right.

Noun

1. a hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced person
2. the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new
   • she looked forward to her initiation as an adult
   • the foundation of a new scientific society
3. a custom that for a long time has been an important feature of some group or society
   • the institution of marriage
   • the institution of slavery
   • he had become an institution in the theater
4. an establishment consisting of a building or complex of buildings where an organization for the promotion of some cause is situated
5. an organization founded and united for a specific purpose