institutionalism
Americannoun
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the system of institutions or organized societies devoted to public, charitable, or similar purposes.
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strong attachment to established institutions, as of religion.
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the policy or practice of using public institutions to house and care for people considered incapable of caring for themselves.
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the belief or policy that a church must maintain institutions of education, welfare, etc., for its members.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of institutionalism
First recorded in 1860–65; institutional + -ism
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.
Matsumoto stresses the anonymity of modern institutionalism through a proliferation of numbers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
Boston University School of Law professor Jed Shugerman told Salon that particularly in the most recent Supreme Court term, Roberts has veered from institutionalism.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2024
When Will and Tom visit a Veterans Affairs facility in an early scene, Ms. Granik visually underscores the building’s chilly institutionalism yet also reminds you of the people inside it.
From New York Times ● Jun. 28, 2018
Those in the opposing camp—known as neoliberalism, institutionalism, rational functionalism, or some combination therein—hold that, thanks to the complex interdependence of states, modern institutions do a pretty good job of constraining state behavior.
From Slate ● Mar. 10, 2016
Nor am I thinking of any new plan or any novel kind of institution or any new agency; rather shall we do better to escape some of the excessive institutionalism and organization.
From The Holy Earth by Bailey, L. H. (Liberty Hyde)
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.
