institutional

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˌɪn.stɪˈtʃuː.ʃən.əl/, /ˌɪn.stɪˈtjuː.ʃən.əl/, US /ˌɪn.stɪˈtuː.ʃən.əl/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from institution and -al.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of, relating to or set up by institution: 1617 in the OED and Merriam-Webster, the 1610s in Etymonline.^[3][4][2]

Semantic evolution

Dealing with legal institutes or the elements of a subject is from 1765.^[3] Of an organized society or the building it works in is from 1882,^[3] and of religion organized through institutions from 1908.^[3] Institutional advertising, which promotes a firm rather than a product, is from 1919.^[3] The sense dull and uniform, like an institution (institutional food), is a modern one.^[5][6]

Timeline

• 1617 – of institution.^[3][4]
• 1765 – of legal institutes.^[3]
• 1882 – of an organized society.^[3]
• 1919 – institutional advertising.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of or relating to an institution or institutions.
2. Organized as or forming an institution.
3. Dull, uniform and unimaginative, as in an institution: institutional meals.

Word family

• institutionally
• institutionalism
• institutionalize
• noninstitutional
• interinstitutional

Related words

• institution
• institute

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins