monument

American  

[mon-yuh-muhnt, mon-yuh-ment] / ˈmɒn yə mənt, ˈmɒn yəˌmɛnt /

noun

1. something erected in memory of a person, event, etc., as a building, pillar, or statue.

   the Washington Monument.

2. any building, megalith, etc., surviving from a past age, and regarded as of historical or archaeological importance.

3. any enduring evidence or notable example of something.

   a monument to human ingenuity.

4. an exemplar, model, or personification of some abstract quality, especially when considered to be beyond question.

   a monument of middle-class respectability.

5. an area or a site of interest to the public for its historical significance, great natural beauty, etc., preserved and maintained by a government.

6. a written tribute to a person, especially a posthumous one.

7. Surveying. an object, as a stone shaft, set in the ground to mark the boundaries of real estate or to mark a survey station.

8. a person considered as a heroic figure or of heroic proportions.

   He became a monument in his lifetime.

9. 1. Obsolete. a tomb; sepulcher.

   2. a statue.

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verb (used with object)

1. to build a monument or monuments to; commemorate.

   to monument the nation's war dead.

2. to build a monument on.

   to monument a famous site.

monument ¹ British  

/ ˈmɒnjʊmənt /

noun

1. an obelisk, statue, building, etc, erected in commemoration of a person or event or in celebration of something

2. a notable building or site, esp one preserved as public property

3. a tomb or tombstone

4. a literary or artistic work regarded as commemorative of its creator or a particular period

5. a boundary marker

6. an exceptional example

   his lecture was a monument of tedium

7. an obsolete word for statue

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Monument ² British  

/ ˈmɒnjʊmənt /

noun

1. a tall columnar building designed (1671) by Sir Christopher Wren to commemorate the Fire of London (1666), which destroyed a large part of the medieval city

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Other Word Forms

• monumentless adjective
• unmonumented adjective

Etymology

Origin of monument

1250–1300; Middle English < Latin monumentum, equivalent to mon- (stem of monēre to remind, warn) + -u- (variant of -i- -i- before labials) + -mentum -ment

Example Sentences

The removal of a large rainbow flag from the monument followed a January 21 memo from the federally run National Park Service responsible for the heritage site in downtown Manhattan.

From Barron's

Stonewall, located in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, was declared a national monument in 2016 by President Barack Obama.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Frankenstein,” in turn, is the director’s latest monument to the beauty of imperfection.

From Los Angeles Times

Barcelona's eternally unfinished Sagrada Familia has grown to become the world's tallest church, but a conflict with residents threatens to delay the finish date for the monument designed over 140 years ago.

From Barron's

Further complicating matters, one of the buildings is listed as a heritage-protected monument.

From Barron's

Related Words

• gravestone
• headstone
• marker
• masterpiece
• mausoleum
• pillar
• shrine
• slab
• statue
• stele
• stone
• tablet
• testament
• tomb
• tombstone
• tribute