<p><strong>Verb</strong></p><ul><li>(used with object) instituted, instituting: to set up; establish; organize: to institute a government.</li><li>to inaugurate; initiate; start: to institute a new course in American literature.</li><li>to set in operation: to institute a lawsuit.</li><li>to bring into use or practice: to institute laws.</li><li>to establish in an office or position.</li><li>Ecclesiastical: to assign to or invest with a spiritual charge, as of a parish.</li></ul><p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>a society or organization for carrying on a particular work, as of a literary, scientific, or educational character.</li><li>the building occupied by such a society.</li><li>Education: an institution, generally beyond the secondary school level, devoted to instruction in technical subjects, usually separate but sometimes organized as a part of a university.</li><li>a unit within a university organized for advanced instruction and research in a relatively narrow field of subject matter.</li><li>a short instructional program set up for a special group interested in a specialized field or subject.</li><li>an established principle, law, custom, or organization.</li><li>institutes: an elementary textbook of law designed for beginners.</li><li>(initial capital letter) Also called Institutes of Justinian: an elementary treatise on Roman law in four books, forming one of the four divisions of the Corpus Juris Civilis.</li><li>something instituted.</li></ul>