3 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
institution
noun
1: an organization founded and united for a specific purpose
[syn: {establishment}]
2: an establishment consisting of a building or complex of
buildings where an organization for the promotion of some
cause is situated
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: 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"; "he regards the fork as a modern
introduction" [syn: {initiation}, {founding}, {foundation},
{origination}, {creation}, {innovation}, {introduction},
{instauration}]
5: a hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced person
[syn: {mental hospital}, {psychiatric hospital}, {mental
institution}, {mental home}, {insane asylum}, {asylum}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Institution \In'sti*tu"tion\, noun [L. institutio: cf. F.
institution.]
1. The act or process of instituting; as:
(a) Establishment; foundation; enactment; as, the
institution of a school.
The institution of God's law is described as
being established by solemn injunction.
--Hooker.
(b) Instruction; education. [Obs.] --Bentley.
(c) (Eccl. Law) The act or ceremony of investing a
clergyman with the spiritual part of a benefice, by
which the care of souls is committed to his charge.
--Blackstone.
2. That which instituted or established; as:
(a) Established order, method, or custom; enactment;
ordinance; permanent form of law or polity.
The nature of our people,
Our city's institutions. --Shak.
(b) An established or organized society or corporation; an
establishment, especially of a public character, or
affecting a community; a foundation; as, a literary
institution; a charitable institution; also, a
building or the buildings occupied or used by such
organization; as, the Smithsonian Institution.
(c) Anything forming a characteristic and persistent
feature in social or national life or habits.
We ordered a lunch (the most delightful of
English institutions, next to dinner) to be
ready against our return. --Hawthorne.
3. That which institutes or instructs; a textbook; a system
of elements or rules; an institute. [Obs.]
There is another manuscript, of above three hundred
years old, . . . being an institution of physic.
--Evelyn.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
158 Moby Thesaurus words for "institution":
A, academy, act, agency, alpha, apostolic orders, appointment,
asylum, atelier, barbershop, beauty parlor, beauty shop, beginning,
bench, bill, blast-off, butcher shop, bylaw, calling, canon,
canonization, ceremonial, ceremony, college, commencement, company,
concern, conferment, consecration, constitution, corporation,
creation, custom, cutting edge, dawn, decree, desk, dictate,
dictation, doctrine, dogma, duty, edge, edict, effectuation,
election, enactment, establishing, establishment, facility, firm,
fixture, flying start, form, form of worship, formality, formation,
forming, formula, formulary, foundation, founding, fresh start,
function, habit, holy orders, holy rite, home, hospital, house,
inauguration, inception, induction, installation, institute,
introduction, investiture, jump-off, jus, kick-off, law,
leading edge, legislation, lex, liturgy, loft, major orders,
materialization, measure, minor orders, mode of worship, mystery,
new departure, nomination, observance, office, oncoming, onset,
opening, ordainment, order of worship, orders, ordinance,
ordination, ordonnance, organization, origin, origination,
outbreak, outset, parlor, practice, preferment, prescribed form,
prescript, prescription, presentation, reading in, realization,
regulation, rite, ritual, ritual observance, rituality, routine,
rubric, rule, ruling, running start, sacrament, sacramental,
school, send-off, service, setting in motion, setting-up, shop,
solemnity, square one, standing order, start, start-off,
starting point, statute, studio, sweatshop, take-off, tradition,
university, work site, work space, workbench, workhouse,
working space, workplace, workroom, workshop, worktable
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