institution

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noun

The act of founding or establishing: constitution, creation, establishment, foundation, organization, origination, start-up. See start/end.

An established entity or activity in society comprising rule-bound and standard behaviour patterns. Institutions include any enduring activity by groups or organizations (e.g. the family, education system, law, polity, economy, or religion), which address some important and persistent societal problem. Many regard sport as a social institution because it has a distinctive kind of organization; it represents a unique form of social activity; it provides a basis of social identity; it serves as a link to other social structures; and it can act as an agent of social control.

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

The commencement or initiation of anything, such as an action. An establishment, particularly one that is eleemosynary or public by nature.

An institution can be any type of organized corporation or society. It may be private and designed for the profit of the individuals composing it, or public and nonprofit.

IN BRIEF: n. - The act of starting something for the first time; An establishment consisting of a building or complex of buildings where an organization for the promotion of some cause is situated; A hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced person.

I think the world of today would go mad, just frenzied with strain and pressure, but for the blessed institution of Sunday. — Brooke Herford, Source: Albert W. Daw Collection

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Quotes:

"The more rational an institution is the less it suffers by making concessions to others." - George Santayana

"The way in which men cling to old institutions after the life has departed out of them, and out of themselves, reminds me of those monkeys which cling by their tails -- aye, whose tails contract about the limbs, even the dead limbs, of the forest, and they hang suspended beyond the hunter's reach long after they are dead. It is of no use to argue with such men. They have not an apprehensive intellect, but merely, as it were a prehensile tail." - Henry David Thoreau

"Wherever a man goes, men will pursue him and paw him with their dirty institutions, and, if they can, constrain him to belong to their desperate odd-fellow society." - Henry David Thoreau

"Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions are all based upon that large defect in your race -- the individual's distrust of his neighbor, and his desire, for safety's or comfort's sake, to stand well in his neighbor's eye. These institutions will always remain, and always flourish, and always oppress you, affront you, and degrade you, because you will always be and remain slaves of minorities. There was never a country where the majority of the people were in their secret hearts loyal to any of these institutions." - Mark Twain

"Why has mankind had such a craving to be imposed upon? Why this lust after imposing creeds, imposing deeds, imposing buildings, imposing language, imposing works of art? The thing becomes an imposition and a weariness at last. Give us things that are alive and flexible, which won't last too long and become an obstruction and a weariness. Even Michelangelo becomes at last a lump and a burden and a bore. It is so hard to see past him." - D. H. Lawrence

"Institutions -- government, churches, industries, and the like -- have properly no other function than to contribute to human freedom; and in so far as they fail, on the whole, to perform this function, they are wrong and need reconstruction." - Charles Horton Cooley

See more famous quotes about Institutions

For a list of words related to institution, see:

• Corporations and Business Practices - institution: established corporation, esp. one serving public needs
• Social Structure and Conditions - institution: established pattern of norms and values; organization that meets important group or social needs
• Schools and Classes - institution: established, generally public, organization and facilities providing education
• Mental Institutions - institution: mental hospital

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See words rhyming with "institution."

Common misspelling(s) of institution

• insitution

Dansk (Danish)
n. - institution, anstalt, stiftelse, organ, fastsættelse, indsættelse, indstiftelse

Nederlands (Dutch)
instituut, instelling, inrichting, gevestigde gewoonte

Français (French)
n. - (Admin, Pol) institution, (Admin, gén) établissement, institution psychiatrique, (Relig) institution, (US) stage

Deutsch (German)
n. - Einführung, Institution, Einrichtung, Anstalt

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ίδρυμα, οργάνωση, θεσμός, θέσπιση, καθιέρωση, ίδρυση, σύσταση, εγκατάσταση, εγκαθίδρυση

Italiano (Italian)
istituzione, istituto psichiatrico

Português (Portuguese)
n. - instituição (f)

Русский (Russian)
учреждение, общество, институт

Español (Spanish)
n. - institución, establecimiento, fundación, casa de salud, manicomio

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - inrättande, installation (isht kyrkl.), institution, anstalt, stiftelse, kommission, sed

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
机构, 创立, 惯例

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 機構, 創立, 慣例

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 설립, 학회, 제도

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 設立, 制定, 慣行, 慣例, 制度, 施設, 協会, 院, 公共の建物, 名物, 規定, 慣習, 開始, 公共施設, 学会

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مؤسسه, إقامه, تأسيس‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מוסד, מנהג קבוע, בי"ח לחולי-רוח‬

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