institutional

American  

[in-sti-too-shuh-nl, -tyoo-] / ˌɪn stɪˈtu ʃə nl, -ˈtyu- /

adjective

1. of or relating to organized establishments, foundations, societies, or the like, or to the buildings they occupy.

   The association offers an institutional membership discount to members of affiliated groups.

2. of the nature of an established organization or institution.

   institutional bureaucracy.

3. relating to or noting a policy, practice, or belief system that has been established as normative or customary throughout an institution or society, particularly as perpetuated in institutions of a public character, as schools, courts, or legislative bodies: institutional sexism in academia;

   institutional racism in the criminal justice system;

   institutional sexism in academia;

   institutional prejudice against members of the gay community.

4. characterized by the blandness, drabness, uniformity, and lack of individualized attention attributed to large institutions that serve many people.

   institutional food.

5. (of advertising) having as the primary object the establishment of goodwill and a favorable reputation rather than the immediate sale of the product.

6. relating to established principles or institutes, especially of jurisprudence.

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institutional British  

/ ˌɪnstɪˈtjuːʃənəl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of institutions

2. dull, routine, and uniform

   institutional meals

3. relating to principles or institutes, esp of law

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Other Word Forms

• anti-institutional
  adjective
• anti-institutionally
  adverb
• institutionally
  adverb
• interinstitutional
  adjective
• interinstitutionally
  adverb
• noninstitutional
  adjective
• noninstitutionally
  adverb
• uninstitutional
  adjective
• uninstitutionally
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of institutional

First recorded in 1610–20; institution + -al ¹

Explanation

Something institutional is what you'd expect from a big entity like a college or corporation, such as the institutional cinder-block dorm room walls or the institutional policy of giving employees 10 sick days per year. Accent the third syllable in institutional: "in-stih-TOO-shun-ul." The word institutional can be used to describe something related to an organization or a corporation, like institutional reform or institutional policies. Something that's institutional is often thought of as bland or boring, like the institutional food served to hospital patients. Institutional things often share, for better or worse, a certain sameness.

Example Sentences

It is a collection of 33 essays detailing the institutional barriers faced by those from lower-economic backgrounds.

From BBC • May 17, 2026

These addresses often succeed less because of institutional authority and more because they feel explicitly personal.

From Salon • May 16, 2026

Securities regulators require all institutional investment managers holding more than $100 million in certain securities to disclose their positions in filings called 13Fs.

From MarketWatch • May 15, 2026

That style would emerge as an institutional asset when scrutiny intensified.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026

At most, they might have stayed in custody until age twenty-five or older, if their institutional history or juvenile detention record suggested that they were still a threat to public safety.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson