adj Made into an accepted, official part of a system or organization.
- Over time, the extra fee became institutionalized in every department of the company.
- Critics said unfair hiring had become institutionalized within the organization.
- The bad habits had become institutionalized over decades.
adj Placed in a care facility, such as a hospital or prison.
- The institutionalized patients received meals and care from the hospital staff.
- Their uncle had been institutionalized as a young man and rarely spoke about it.
- He was institutionalized for several years after the breakdown.
adj So used to living in an institution that a person can no longer cope well outside of it.
- After decades in the facility, he felt institutionalized and found the busy city confusing.
- She worried that her father had grown institutionalized and could no longer shop for himself.
- Long-term inmates sometimes become institutionalized and struggle to adjust to freedom.
