institutional

adjective

in·​sti·​tu·​tion·​al ˌin(t)-stə-ˈt(y)ü-sh(ə-)nəl 

1

: of or relating to an institution

institutional knowledge

2

: characteristic of or appropriate to institutions

bland institutional cooking

institutional green walls

institutionally adverb

Examples of institutional in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Ken Squire is the founder and president of 13D Monitor, an institutional research service on shareholder activism, and the founder and portfolio manager of the 13D Activist Fund, a mutual fund that invests in a portfolio of activist investments. —Kenneth Squire, CNBC, 7 Feb. 2026

While many institutional investors continue to view gold as a hedge against interest-rate shifts, central-bank buying and global uncertainty, silver’s surge is increasingly seen as an industrial rally pushed higher largely by speculative positioning — not economic and other fundamental factors. —Alfred Cang, Fortune, 5 Feb. 2026

Second — and more consequential — the same environments systematically lack the institutional capacity to shepherd that talent into adulthood. —Mark Mitchell, Chicago Tribune, 5 Feb. 2026

Bitcoin ETFs also haven’t taken off quite the way that crypto bulls had expected, and institutional investment in bitcoin has declined in recent months, reducing trade volumes. —David Goldman, CNN Money, 5 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1617, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing institutional

• anti-institutional
• institutional racism
• inter-institutional
• multi-institutional

Rhymes for institutional

• attributional
• constitutional
• convolutional
• distributional
• involutional
• substitutional
• interinstitutional
• noninstitutional
• unconstitutional