verb (used with object), in·sti·tu·tion·al·ized, in·sti·tu·tion·al·iz·ing.
- to make institutional.
- to make into or treat as an institution: the danger of institutionalizing racism.
- to place or confine in an institution, especially one for the care of mental illness, alcoholism, etc.
verb
- (tr; often passive) to subject to the deleterious effects of confinement in an institutiona mental patient who was institutionalized into boredom and apathy
- (tr) to place in an institution
- to make or become an institution
“to put into institutional life” (usually deprecatory), 1905; see institution. Related: Institutionalized. Earlier (1865) it meant “to make into an institution.”
v.
- To place a person in the care of an institution, especially one providing care for the disabled or mentally ill.