What is an Institution?

1.	an organization, establishment, foundation, society, or the like, devoted to the promotion of a particular cause or program, esp. one of a public, educational, or charitable character: This college is the best institution of its kind.

2.	the building devoted to such work.

3.	a public or private place for the care or confinement of inmates, esp. mental patients or other disabled or handicapped persons.

4.	Sociology. a well-established and structured pattern of behavior or of relationships that is accepted as a fundamental part of a culture, as marriage: the institution of the family.

5.	any established law, custom, etc.

6.	any familiar, long-established person, thing, or practice; fixture.

7.	the act of instituting or setting up; establishment: the institution of laws.

8.	Ecclesiastical. a. the origination of the Eucharist, and enactment of its observance, by Christ. b. the investment of a member of the clergy with a spiritual charge. *Taken from Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.