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• monument
  monument

  noun

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

  noun

  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

monument

American  

[mon-yuh-muhnt, mon-yuh-ment] / ˈmɒn jə mənt, ˈmɒn jəˌmɛnt /

noun

• monuments
  plural

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

Derived Forms

• monumentless
  adjective
• unmonumented
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• monuments
  plural

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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

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Explanation

A monument is a statue or other sculpture meant to honor a great person, like the Lincoln Monument or Washington Monument. You can find monuments in the downtown area of most cities. Many honor a specific person, while other are dedicated to soldiers who fought in a certain war, such as Vietnam or World War I. Cemeteries are also full of monuments, and monument can mean a type of burial vault. Whenever people create a monument, they're trying to make sure that a person or event is remembered.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

monument Monument monuments

If you’re going to film a literary monument, and a period piece to boot, you’re going to have to spend some money.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Celebrity Traitors: Can I visit the castle, ride the train and see the unusual monument?

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

Ms. Margolles purchased a home in the middle of this and demolished it, here reconstructing the rubble into a rectangular minimalist monument that stretches across a large gallery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

Now the arch, initially promoted as a monument commemorating America’s 250th anniversary, has undergone a similar transformation.

From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026

After the French Revolution, which overthrew the monarchy, it completed its final transformation into a museum, a monument for the new French Republic.

From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day

“He is increasingly playing the dual role of founder and diplomat,” said Joseph Hoefer, chief AI officer at lobbying firm Monument Advocacy, which represents tech companies but not Anthropic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

All, however, steered well clear of the federal Ethiopian soldiers on guard at the university and the Tigray Martyrs Memorial Monument, which commemorates the TPLF's 16 years of struggle against the Marxist-Leninist Derg government.

From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026

Nobody knows where the Shakespeare nickname came from, but city officials designated the bridge as L.A.’s Historic-Cultural Monument No. 126 in 1974 and retrofitted it in the 1990s to better withstand earthquakes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

Her first major country solo single for Monument, “Dumb Blonde,” written by Curly Putman, was released in 1966 and reached No. 24 on Billboard’s country chart.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

At A military hospital camp at Kendall Green, near Washington, D.C. one end of what would become the National Mall, the Washington Monument was one-third built.

From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly

Juxtaposing Jim Crow-era Confederate monuments and recent art, “Monuments” challenges white supremacy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

It will help us explain why in the Ramesside period, officials such as Paser chose to reuse, modify or build tombs adjacent to the monuments of the preceding 18th-dynasty elites.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026

"Unfortunately, the process of rewriting history is much bigger, much deeper. It's also the destruction of monuments," said Zhemkova.

From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026

Critics say the triumphal arch would block or disrupt the sightline of other historic monuments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

The light in this level is changing; the ice monuments are lit with golden rays and dragging long shadows across the glaciers.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

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Related Words

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

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