statue

[stach-oo]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR statue ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a three-dimensional work of art, as a representational or abstract form, carved in stone or wood, molded in a plastic material, cast in bronze, or the like.

Origin of statue

1300–50; Middle English < Middle French < Latin statua, noun derivative of statuere to set up, itself derivative of status (see status)

Related formsstat·ue·like, adjective

Can be confusedstatue stature statute

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for statue

Contemporary Examples of statue

Workers built a temporary rail track through the city to move the statue in a process that took three days.
Florence Preps ‘David’ for the Big One
Barbie Latza Nadeau
December 25, 2014
None of us were interested in making a film about a speech, a statue, or all that good stuff; it was about getting underneath it.
Ava DuVernay on ‘Selma,’ the Racist Sony Emails, and Making Golden Globes History
Marlow Stern
December 15, 2014
To Bartholdi, his statue meant a commemoration of Liberty attained.
128 Years Old and Still a Looker: Happy Birthday to Lady Liberty
Elizabeth Mitchell
October 28, 2014
But even amid those early protests, the Statue of Liberty was doing her job.
128 Years Old and Still a Looker: Happy Birthday to Lady Liberty
Elizabeth Mitchell
October 28, 2014
The Statue of Liberty would serve as the north star of our behavior.
128 Years Old and Still a Looker: Happy Birthday to Lady Liberty
Elizabeth Mitchell
October 28, 2014

Historical Examples of statue

The statue is ten feet high, and weighs three and one-half tons.
Lives of Girls Who Became Famous
Sarah Knowles Bolton
The statue of Tsong Kapa is said to have been constructed seventy-two years ago, and to have cost as much as one of gold.
Trans-Himalaya, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Sven Hedin
Nails may be driven into the statue on week-days between 11 and 1, and on Sundays between 10 and 5.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, January 12, 1916
Various
When the crowd leaves the temple, Dmtrios snatches the necklace from the statue and disappears.
The Complete Opera Book
Gustav Kobb
This, after some pondering, I concluded to represent Pygmalion, as he awaited the quickening of his statue.
Phantastes
George MacDonald

British Dictionary definitions for statue

statue

noun

a wooden, stone, metal, plaster, or other kind of sculpture of a human or animal figure, usually life-size or larger

Word Origin for statue

C14: via Old French from Latin statua, from statuere to set up; compare statute

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for statue

c.1300, from Old French statue (12c.), from Latin statua "image, statue," prop. "that which is set up," back-formation from statuere "to cause to stand, set up," from status "a standing, position," from stare "to stand" (see stet). The children's game of statues is attested from 1906.