From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbe an institutionbe an institutionFAMOUSif a person, place, event etc is an institution, they have been an important part of a place for a very long time – often used humorously The British pub isn’t just somewhere to drink – it’s an institution. → institution
Examples from the Corpus
be an institution• What Brown inherited when he became speaker in December 1980 was an institution well down the road toward gridlock.• The Salvation Army is an institution that performs good works, and it is entitled to its views of homosexuality.• The Sea Dolphin Café is not just a restaurant; it's an institution.• The results of such changes are institutions which concentrate very largely on advanced vocational and general courses.• The biggest things in the normative order are institutions.• Punch is an institution as it will probably be so remembered.• Cattle stealing was an institution which provided benefits to different groups.• Until this month, they were an institution, just like the White House.• Think-tanks, sitting uneasily half-way between government and universities, are institutions that embody this ambiguity. 