# institute

Pronunciation: US say "IN-sti-toot" /ˈɪnstɪt͡ʃuːt/; UK say "IN-sti-choot" /ˈɪnstɪt͡ʃuːt/

## Noun

1. An organization set up for a particular purpose, especially research, education, or promoting a cause, including a college for technical or specialized study.
   - Simple: An organization that does research, teaches, or works for a cause, such as a college for science or technology.
   - _The institute publishes annual reports on press freedom worldwide._
   - _Policy institutes on both sides of the debate released competing studies._
3. The building that houses a learning institution or an organization devoted to a cause.
   - Simple: The building used by a research group, a college for special subjects, or a group working for a cause.
   - _The institute stands at the corner of Fifth and Oak, behind a row of elms._
   - _Workers renovated the institute's lecture halls over the summer._
5. A brief, concentrated program of classes or meetings for study and training, frequently run in the summer for teachers or other professionals. *(US)*
   - Simple: A short program of classes and meetings where teachers or other workers study and train, often in summer.
   - _Forty high school history teachers attended a two-week institute on the Constitution at the state university._
   - _The foundation sponsors week-long institutes where librarians train in digital archiving._

## Verb

2. To begin or initiate something, such as a policy or organization; to found.
   - Simple: To start something new, like a rule, plan, or organization.
   - _Congress voted to institute stricter reporting requirements for lobbyists._
   - _The company instituted a four-day workweek after a successful trial._
4. To nominate or appoint someone to a position or office.
   - Simple: To choose someone for a job or position.
   - _A Roman testator could institute several heirs at once, giving each a fixed share of the estate._
   - _The emperor instituted a trusted general as governor of the eastern provinces._

## Noun

6. The act of establishing or founding something; establishment. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The act of setting something up or starting it.
7. Something established or fixed as a settled practice, such as a law, habit, or custom. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A law, custom, or habit that people have set up and follow.

## Verb

8. To train or instruct a person. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To teach or train someone in a skill or subject.

## Adjective

9. Established, organized, or founded; set in place. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Already set up, started, or put in place.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To formally invest a member of the clergy with the spiritual charge of a benefice or the care of souls.
- (noun) In a settlement of property, the person to whom an estate is first given by destination or limitation.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3, 5–7** — This goes back to Latin "institutum," which passed through Middle French into French as "institut," the form English took.
**Meanings 2, 4, 8–9** — Latin "instituo" ("I set up, place upon, purpose, begin, institute"), made of "in" (in, on) and "statuo" (set up, establish), had the past participle "institutus," and that form reached English by way of Middle English.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/institute (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).