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institutional

/ɪnstɪˈtuʃənəl/
/ɪnstɪˈtuʃənəl/
IPA guide

Something institutional is what you'd expect from a big entity like a college or corporation, such as the institutional cinder-block dorm room walls or the institutional policy of giving employees 10 sick days per year.

Accent the third syllable in institutional: "in-stih-TOO-shun-ul." The word institutional can be used to describe something related to an organization or a corporation, like institutional reform or institutional policies. Something that's institutional is often thought of as bland or boring, like the institutional food served to hospital patients. Institutional things often share, for better or worse, a certain sameness.

Definitions of institutional
  1. adjective
    relating to or constituting or involving an institution
    institutional policy”
  2. adjective
    organized as or forming an institution
    institutional religion”
    synonyms:
    institutionalised, institutionalized
    given the character of an institution or incorporated into a structured and usually well-established system
    uninteresting
    characteristic or suggestive of an institution especially in being uniform or dull or unimaginative
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    antonyms:
    noninstitutional
    not institutional
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