memorial
Americannoun
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memorials
plural
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something designed to preserve the memory of a person, event, etc., as a monument or a holiday.
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a written statement of facts presented to a sovereign, a legislative body, etc., as the ground of, or expressed in the form of, a petition or remonstrance.
adjective
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serving to preserve the memory of the dead or a past event
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of or involving memory
noun
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something serving as a remembrance
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a written statement of facts submitted to a government, authority, etc, in conjunction with a petition
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an informal diplomatic paper
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of memorial
1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin memoriāle, noun use of neuter of Latin memoriālis for or containing memoranda. See memory, -al 1
Explanation
Just as the Lincoln Memorial pays tribute to Abraham Lincoln, a memorial is anything that symbolizes or celebrates someone who died. Every gravestone in a cemetery is actually a small memorial. A memorial is a service or statue dedicated to someone who died. A memorial service celebrates the life of the deceased. Something written about the dead person can also be called a memorial, and you could say donating to a dead friend's favorite cause is a memorial to them. If it honors the dead, the word memorial probably fits.
Vocabulary lists containing memorial
Memorial Day Words
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Memorial Day: Words of Respect and Remembrance
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May Vocabulary Words
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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.
See Examples For:
Signs quickly piled up at his roadside memorial blaming Bustillos for the chain of events and telling other drivers to slow down.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
Avena visited the memorial last year and said he was profoundly affected.
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
Members of the public have been gathering to lay flowers at a memorial outside the Royal Palace in Oslo.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Widdecombe's family are expected to release more details about the public memorial shortly.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
If Ford’s Theatre is Booth’s place, then across the street there is a memorial to Abraham Lincoln.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
Similar memorials were installed to honour murdered MPs Jo Cox and Sir David Amess.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
By 1949, Noguchi had completed an astonishing range of commissions—murals, architecture, parks, playgrounds, memorials, industrial designs and scenography.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
The argument over their status and memorials to UPA figures has long cast a shadow over diplomatic relations between the allies and neighbours.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Chávez famously said that he never wanted to have memorials in his name, telling a friend, “Statues are for pigeons to s— on. If you want to remember me, organize.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
Confederate monuments, memorials, and imagery proliferated throughout the South during the Civil Rights Era.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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.
