institutionnoun
uk/ˌɪn.stɪˈtʃuː.ʃən/us/ˌɪn.stəˈtuː.ʃən/institution noun (ORGANIZATION)
B2 [ C ] a large and important organization, such as a university or bank:
More examples
- We're searching for a couple of runaways from the young offenders' institution.
- They heard sob-stuff from one man about his deprived childhood in an institution.
- St Andrews and Cambridge universities are internationally respected institutions.
- He had been in and out of penal institutions from the age of 16.
- The university's exchange scheme has cemented its links with many other academic institutions.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Organizations, Societies & clubs
- Assn
- Assoc
- association
- book club
- brotherhood
- commission
- committee
- fan club
- FC
- feeder club
- foundation
- friendly society
- housing association
- insignia
- monolith
- secret society
- select committee
- society
- the lower orders idiom
- the old guard
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institution noun (PLACE)
B2 [ C ] mainly disapproving a building where people are sent to be cared for, especially a hospital or prison
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Medical places & organizations
- A & E
- asylum
- detoxification centre
- ear, nose, and throat
- emergency room
- ENT
- er
- health maintenance organization
- intensive care
- lunatic asylum
- madhouse
- Medicaid
- Medicare
- mental hospital
- operating room
- outpatients
- sanitarium
- surgery
- the funny farm
- theatre
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
institution noun (CUSTOM)
C2 [ C ] a custom or tradition that has existed for a long time and is accepted as an important part of a particular society:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Custom, tradition & conformity
- apple pie
- as American as apple pie idiom 1
- backward-looking
- backwards
- be (like) sheep idiom
- blend into the scenery idiom
- cue
- fashion
- folk
- folk memory
- folklore
- follow the crowd idiom
- non-traditional
- nonconformist
- norm
- orthodoxy
- patrimony
- reactionary
- unorthodox
- zeitgeist
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institution noun (START)
[ U ] an occasion when a law, system, etc. begins or is introduced:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Beginnings and starts
- a baptism of/by fire idiom
- a clean sheet/slate idiom
- advent
- baptism
- beginning
- clean
- go/be back to square one idiom
- inception
- initiation
- introduction
- jumping-off point
- salvo
- seed
- square
- starting point
- starting time
- the outset
- the thin end of the wedge idiom
- thin
- trigger
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