Adjacent Words

institutionalize definitions

	Tweet

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: cause to be admitted; of persons to an institution; "After the second episode, she had to be committed"; "he was committed to prison" [syn: commit, institutionalize, institutionalise, send, charge]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-ized; -izing) Date: 1865 1. to make into an institution ; give character of an institution to <institutionalized housing>; especially to incorporate into a structured and often highly formalized system <institutionalized values> 2. to put in the care of an institution <institutionalize alcoholics> • institutionalization noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. (also -ise) 1 (as institutionalized adj.) (of a prisoner, a long-term patient, etc.) made apathetic and dependent after a long period in an institution. 2 place or keep (a person) in an institution. 3 convert into an institution; make institutional. Derivatives: institutionalization n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(institutionalizes, institutionalizing, institutionalized) Note: in BRIT, also use 'institutionalise' 1. If someone such as a sick, mentally ill, or old person is institutionalized, they are sent to stay in a special hospital or home, usually for a long period. She became seriously ill and had to be institutionalized for a lengthy period. ...institutionalized kids with medical problems. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed, V-ed • institutionalization Institutionalization was necessary when his wife became both blind and violent. N-UNCOUNT 2. To institutionalize something means to establish it as part of a culture, social system, or organization. The goal is to institutionalize family planning into community life... In the first century there was no such thing as institutionalized religion. VERB: V n, V-ed • institutionalization ...the institutionalization of social change.