Word.ws English Dictionary

institute

Syllables: in·sti·tute/ˈɪnstɪtjuːt/

institute noun: an organization founded to promote a cause.

Noun

institute (plural institutes)

  1. An organization founded to promote a cause
    • I work in a medical research institute.
  2. An institution of learning; a college, especially for technical subjects
  3. The building housing such an institution.
  4. (obsolete) The act of instituting; institution.
    • water sanctified by Christ's institute1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Causes that hitherto have Hindred it. […], [London]: […] Thomas Vnderhill, →OCLC
  5. (obsolete) That which is instituted, established, or fixed, such as a law, habit, or custom.
    • They made a sort of institute and digest of anarchy.1837, Robert Huish, The History of the Life and Reign of William IV, the Reform Monarch of England
    • to make the Stoic institutes thy own1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fifth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […]...
  6. (Scotland) The person to whom an estate is first given by destination or limitation.
    • Substitution is the nomination of substituted heirs, who take place, failing the institute.1681, Viscount Stair, The Institutions of the Law of Scotland

Verb

institute (third-person singular simple present institutes, present participle instituting, simple past and past participle instituted)

  1. (transitive) To begin or initiate (something); to found.
    • He instituted the new policy of having children walk through a metal detector to enter school.
    • And haply institute / A course of learning and ingenious studies.c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To train, instruct.
    • Publius was the first that ever instituted the Souldier to manage his armes by dexteritie and skil, and joyned art unto vertue, not for the use of private contentions, but for the wars and Roman peoples quarrels.1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
    • If children were early instituted, knowledge would insensibly insinuate itself.a. 1684, author unknown, Gentleman's Calling
  3. To nominate; to appoint.
    • We institute your Grace / To be our regent in these parts of France.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  4. To invest with the spiritual charge of a benefice, or the care of souls.
    • a writ issued to the bishop, to institute the clerk of that patron1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC

Adjective

institute (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Established; organized; founded.
    • They have but few laws. For to a people so instruct and institute, very few to suffice.1551, Thomas More, “(please specify the Internet Archive page)”, in Raphe Robynson [i.e., Ralph Robinson], transl., A Fruteful, and Pleasaunt Worke of the Best State of a Publyque Weale, and of the...

institute meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

institute in Hindi

organization founded to promote a cause
संस्थान sansthān

institute in Urdu

ادارہ, قائدہ, رسم, ریت, چالو کرنا, قائم کرنا

institute in Bengali

প্রতিষ্ঠান, শিক্ষালয়, শিক্ষাস্থান, উপদেশ গ্রন্থ, নীতি গ্রন্থ, নিয়মের গ্রন্থ

institute in Telugu

institute
సంస్థ saṁstha
More languagesFewer languages
institute in Malayalam
സ്ഥാപിക്കുക, ഏർപ്പെടുത്തുക, നിയോഗിക്കുക, ആരംഭിക്കുക
institute in Kannada
ಸಂಘ, ಸಂಸ್ಥೆ, ಪೀಠ, ಸಮಾಜ
institute in Punjabi
ਇੰਸਟੀਚਿਊਟ, ਇੰਸਟੀਟਿਊਟ, ਸੰਸਥਾਨ
institute in Gujarati
ઇન્સ્ટિટ્યૂટ
institute in Odia
ଇନଷ୍ଟିଚ୍ଯ଼ୁଟ୍, ଇନଷ୍ଟିଚ୍ଯ଼ୁଟ
institute in Sanskrit
अचर acara, संयुज् saṃyuj
institute in Nepali
संस्था sansthā
institute in Arabic
مَعْهَد maʕhad, أنشأ
institute in Malay
institut
institute in Indonesian
institut
institute in Persian
انستیتو anstitu
institute in Thai
สถาบัน sà-tǎa-ban
institute in Vietnamese
viện, học viện

Examples of institute in a sentence

  • We will institute a boot camp for training the sales force in these new products.
  • The foundation of his institute has been wrought with difficulty.
  • I won't have the government instituting gun control! They can have my shotgun when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.

All 40 example sentences with institute

Forms of institute

Noun
pluralinstitutes
Verb
third-person singular presentinstitutes
present participleinstituting
past participleinstituted
pastinstituted

Past tense of institute: instituted

Plural of institute: institutes

Origin of institute

From French institut, from Middle French, from Latin īnstitūtum.

From Middle English, from Latin īnstitūtus, past participle of īnstituō (“to set up, place upon, purpose, begin, institute”), from in (“in, on”) + statuō (“set up, establish”).

Words formed from institute

Phrases with institute

Questions about institute

What does institute mean?
Institute means an organization founded to promote a cause.
What is institute in Hindi?
Institute in Hindi is संस्थान (sansthān). See Institute meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is institute?
Institute can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce institute?
Institute is pronounced /ˈɪnstɪtjuːt/.
What is the plural of institute?
The plural of institute is institutes.

Words near institute in the dictionary

  1. instinctually
  2. INSTIs
  3. instit
  4. instit.
  5. institorial
  6. institute
  7. institute of technology
  8. institute professor
  9. institute professors
  10. instituted
  11. instituter

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: institute (page history and authors); institute (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); institute (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); సంస్థ (Telugu) (page history and authors); institute (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); institute (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); institute (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); institute (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); institute (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); अचर (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); संस्था (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “institute.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/institute. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.