Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense institutionalizes, present participle institutionalizing, past tense, past participle institutionalizedregional note: in BRIT, also use institutionalise
1. verb [usually passive]
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. [beVERB-ed]
...institutionalized kids with medical problems. [VERB-ed]
institutionalization (ɪnstɪtjuːʃənəlaɪzeɪʃən, US -tuː-)uncountable noun
Institutionalization was necessary when his wife became both blind and violent.
2. verb
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. [VERB noun]
In the first century there was no such thing as institutionalized religion. [VERB-ed]
institutionalizationuncountable noun
...the institutionalization of social change. [+ of]
institutionalize in British English
or institutionalise (ˌɪnstɪˈtjuːʃənəˌlaɪz)
verb
1. (tr; often passive)
to subject to the deleterious effects of confinement in an institution
a patient who was institutionalized into boredom and apathy
2. (transitive)
to place in an institution
3.
to make or become an institution
Derived forms
institutionalization (ˌinstiˌtutionaliˈzation) or institutionalisation (ˌinstiˌtutionaliˈsation)
noun
institutionalize in American English
(ˌɪnstəˈtuʃənəlˌaɪz; ˌɪnstəˈtjuʃənəlˌaɪz)
verb transitiveWord forms: ˌinstiˈtutionalˌized or ˌinstiˈtutionalˌizing
1.
to make into or consider as an institution
2.
to place in an institution, as for treatment or detention
Derived forms
institutionalization (ˌinstiˌtutionaliˈzation)
noun
Examples of 'institutionalize' in a sentence
institutionalize
"Anything bigger than this and they'd have to institutionalize me afterward.
Isobel Bird CIRCLE OF THREE: BOOK 15 INITIATION (2002)
In other languages
institutionalize
British English: institutionalize VERB
If someone 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.