statue
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of statue
1300–50; Middle English < Middle French < Latin statua, noun derivative of statuere to set up, itself derivative of status ( see status)
Explanation
To stand as still as a statue is to stand absolutely still, a statue being a sculpture, after all. A statue is a specific kind of sculpture, one that clearly represents a person, an animal, or other living creature. There's no question that the first thing most people think of when they hear the word statue is the Statue of Liberty. The woman's name is Liberty and there she is, a statue. Any sculpture that represents a person (Liberty, George Washington, Gandhi, or the Mad Hatter) is called a statue. In New York's Central Park, there is a much beloved statue of a dog named Balto, a heroic husky from Alaska.
Vocabulary lists containing statue
Academy Awards, List 1
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"The Secret Water"
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Commonly Confused Words, List 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Chicken Boy stood for years atop the Chicken Boy fried-chicken restaurant on Broadway downtown, inspiring writer Art Fein to label him “L.A.’s Statue of Liberty.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2026
And, among a list of icons that included the Statue of Liberty and the White House, respondents most often selected the U.S. flag as the one they associated most closely with America.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 19, 2026
America is doing something great: Sending astronauts around the moon on a giant rocket that is taller than the Statue of Liberty External link.
From Barron's • Apr. 2, 2026
In Malibu: In “Planet of the Apes,” Charlton Heston’s character, George Taylor, discovers the Statue of Liberty half-buried in the sand—and realizes that what he thought was an alien planet is a postapocalyptic Earth.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026
We saw Rockefeller Center, drove through Central Park, and caught sight of the Statue of Liberty with her hopeful hoisted torch.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
