institute

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪnstɪt(j)uːt/, /ˈɪnstɪt͡ʃuːt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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

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.
   • 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavvses that hitherto have Hindred it; republished as Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916, →OCLC:

     water sanctified by Christ's institute

5. (obsolete) That which is instituted, established, or fixed, such as a law, habit, or custom.
   • 1837, Robert Huish, The History of the Life and Reign of William IV, the Reform Monarch of England,:

     They made a sort of institute and digest of anarchy.

   • 1693, 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. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:

     to make the Stoic institutes thy own

6. (law, Scotland) The person to whom an estate is first given by destination or limitation.
   • 1681, Viscount Stair, The Institutions of the Law of Scotland:

     Substitution is the nomination of substituted heirs, who take place, failing the institute.

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

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.

   • 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] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     And haply institute / A course of learning and ingenious studies.

   • 1776, Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence:

     Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government.

2. (obsolete, transitive) To train, instruct.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     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.

   • a. 1684, author unknown, Gentleman's Calling:

     If children were early instituted, knowledge would insensibly insinuate itself.

3. To nominate; to appoint.
   • 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] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     We institute your Grace / To be our regent in these parts of France.

4. (ecclesiastical, law) To invest with the spiritual charge of a benefice, or the care of souls.
   • 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

     a writ issued to the bishop, to institute the clerk of that patron

institute (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Established; organized; founded.
   • 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 Newe Yle Called Utopia: […], London: […] [Steven Mierdman for] Abraham Vele, […], →OCLC:

     They have but few laws. For to a people so instruct and institute, very few to suffice.

• institution
• institutional

• “institute”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “institute”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “institute”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

īnstitūte

1. vocative masculine singular of īnstitūtus

• institute in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)