1. An organization founded and united for a specific purpose
   "The university is a respected institution of higher learning";
   - establishment
    
2. An establishment consisting of a building or complex of buildings where an organization for the promotion of some cause is situated
   "The institution has a lot of historic architecture"
    
3. A custom that for a long time has been an important feature of some group or society
   "he had become an institution in the theatre"; "the institution of marriage"; "the institution of slavery"
    
4. A hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced person
   "The old mental institution was converted into a modern psychiatric treatment centre";
   - mental hospital, psychiatric hospital, mental institution, mental home, insane asylum [archaic], asylum
    
5. The act of starting or introducing something new
   "The institution of the new policy changed how the company operated";
   - initiation, founding, foundation, origination, creation, innovation, introduction, instauration, debut, first appearance, launching, unveiling, entry

Derived forms: institutions

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

Encyclopedia: Institution, Canonical