Definition of "institution" []

• The act of instituting. (noun)
• A custom, practice, relationship, or behavioral pattern of importance in the life of a community or society: the institutions of marriage and the family. (noun)
• Informal One long associated with a specified place, position, or function. (noun)
• An established organization or foundation, especially one dedicated to education, public service, or culture. (noun)
• The building or buildings housing such an organization. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "It was only the other day I read in the report of the Consumers’ League in my own city that “a benevolent institution, ” when found giving out clothing to be made in tenement houses that were not licensed, and taken to task for it, asked the agents of the League to “show some way in which the law could be evaded”; but it is just as well for that “benevolent institution” that name and address were wanting, or it might find its funds running short unaccountably."
• ""Any institution that thinks it will always be bailed out when the going gets tough is an inherently dangerous ¬institution."
• ""Any institution that thinks it will always be bailed out when the going gets tough is an inherently dangerous ­institution."