WordWeb Online

1. An organization founded and united for a specific purpose
   - 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 theatre"
    
4. The act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new
   - initiation, founding, foundation, origination, creation, innovation, introduction, instauration, debut, first appearance, launching, unveiling, entry
    
5. A hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced person
   - mental hospital, psychiatric hospital, mental institution, mental home, insane asylum, asylum

Derived forms: institutions

Type of: beginning, commencement, custom, establishment, hospital, infirmary, organisation [Brit], organization, start, tradition

Encyclopedia: Institution, Canonical