institutional
Americanadjective
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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.
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of the nature of an established organization or institution.
institutional bureaucracy.
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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.
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characterized by the blandness, drabness, uniformity, and lack of individualized attention attributed to large institutions that serve many people.
institutional food.
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(of advertising) having as the primary object the establishment of goodwill and a favorable reputation rather than the immediate sale of the product.
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relating to established principles or institutes, especially of jurisprudence.
adjective
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of, relating to, or characteristic of institutions
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dull, routine, and uniform
institutional meals
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relating to principles or institutes, esp of law
Other Word Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing institutional
Word Generation Social Studies - Complex Questions Related to American Democracy
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Geography and World Regions
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"CLEP Principles of Management," Vocabulary from Chapter 12
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
World Liberty applied to create a trust company in January, with plans to offer crypto custody and stablecoin conversion services, while serving institutional customers, including crypto exchanges, market makers, and investment firms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Strategist Scott Rubner says a growing list of stock-market buyers are pushing it in a positive direction, notably big hedge funds and institutional managers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Systematic strategies, employed by big hedge funds and some institutional managers, use sophisticated algorithms and data inputs to make investing decisions.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
“He was very judicious and even-handed and he gave the new institutional credibility out of the starting gate.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
The walls were institutional gray-brown; the carpet, ditto.
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
