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

The foster care community, with long ties to institutional care, has been slow to change. — Joseph Shapiro, NPR, 3 Oct. 2026

Some students at the event blamed Cornell officials for not doing enough to protect the former student, identified as Jane Doe, while others faulted university investigators and broader institutional issues, including fraternity culture. — Gloria Pazmino, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2026

In response, people are testing out different institutional models and trying to figure out what goes next. — Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews.com, 2 Oct. 2026

This caution is surprising in a writer who has elsewhere been fearless about identity and America, attentive to the country’s institutional capacity to humiliate, compromise, and implicate the people who claim it. — Zain Khalid, Vulture, 1 Oct. 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