monolithic

[ mon-uh-lith-ik ]

adjective

1. of or relating to a monolith.
2. made of only one stone:

   a monolithic column.

3. consisting of one piece; solid or unbroken:

   a boat with a monolithic hull.

4. constructed of monoliths or huge blocks of stone:

   the monolithic monuments of the New Stone Age.

5. characterized by massiveness, total uniformity, rigidity, invulnerability, etc.:

   a monolithic society.

6. Electronics. of or relating to an integrated circuit formed in a single chip.

Other Words From

• mono·lithi·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of monolithic¹

First recorded in 1815–25; mono- + -lithic

Example Sentences

In today’s politics, certain voting groups are often portrayed as monolithic, or only voting one way, even though that’s never the full story.

From FiveThirtyEight

Google's solution is the Android App Bundle, which turns Android app distribution from a monolithic, universal APK into a collection of "split APKs" that can be specifically doled out by the Google Play Store for each individual device.

From Ars Technica

Packer’s toughest criticisms are reserved for Just America, in which he discerns tendencies toward “monolithic group thought, hostility to open debate, and a taste for moral coercion.”

From Washington Post

Publicis Media also aims to ensure that audience segmentation does not reinforce stereotypes or lump all people in certain groups into a monolithic category, said Garcia.

From Digiday

The decision to let those smartly chosen contributors tell stories that resonate with them, in styles that reflect each director’s unique voice, yields a history that is artful, complex and vital without being monolithic.

From Time

The more monolithic bureaucracies became, Gowers felt, the more they reinforced their remoteness by using impenetrable language.

From The Daily Beast

The gift was a cynical, symbolic, and contentless gambit in a monolithic USSR.

From The Daily Beast

For one, the GOP needs to realize that there is no monolithic way of thinking in black America.

From The Daily Beast

All these divisions provide further proof that the myth of the monolithic “Israel Lobby” is just that.

From The Daily Beast

The most striking thing about the latter, after all, is its monolithic conformity.

From The Daily Beast

It contains 4,000 tons of granite and is practically monolithic, as if it were carved out of a quarry.

From Project Gutenberg

Down the long church, the stout monolithic piers make two virile lines.

From Project Gutenberg

There is a noble purity in Chlons Cathedral, due in large part to its soaring monolithic piers.

From Project Gutenberg

And he saw that the panel which had swung inward to admit them was set low in the monolithic tomb of King Abibaal himself.

From Project Gutenberg

The Alexandrovskaya Column, the world's tallest monolithic stone monument.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• hulking
• imposing