# monument

Pronunciation: say "MON-yuu-muhnt" US /ˈmɑnjʊmənt/, UK /ˈmɒnjʊmənt/

## Noun

1. A structure built to commemorate a person, event, or idea, or to serve as a memorial.
   - Simple: A building or statue made to honor a person or event.
   - _The city commissioned a monument to remember its founding families._
   - _Tourists gather each morning at the marble monument in the square._
2. A significant site held in common ownership by the community, such as a protected public landmark.
   - Simple: A special public place that belongs to everyone in a country or area.
   - _Congress designated the desert region a national monument last year._
   - _The ancient forest was preserved as a community monument for future generations._
3. Something regarded as a lasting sign of exceptional achievement.
   - Simple: Something that stands as proof of a great success or effort.
   - _The cathedral remains a monument to medieval craftsmanship._
   - _His decades of research became a monument to scientific patience._
4. An important burial vault or tomb, often built for a notable person.
   - Simple: A large grave or tomb built for an important person.
   - _Archaeologists excavated a royal monument containing several stone coffins._
   - _The family commissioned an elaborate monument for the cemetery._
5. A marker placed at a grave, such as a headstone.
   - Simple: A stone that marks where someone is buried.
   - _The cemetery rows were lined with weathered granite monuments._
   - _She knelt to read the inscription on her grandmother's monument._
6. A registered archaeological site or structure officially deemed historic and worthy of legal protection. *(British)*
   - Simple: A protected old site or building that is officially listed as historic.
   - _The Department classified the Iron Age fort as a scheduled monument._
   - _Damaging a scheduled monument carries heavy penalties under British heritage law._
7. A surviving record that preserves evidence of the past.
   - Simple: A record from the past that has survived to today.
   - _The ancient text survives as a monument of a long-lost language._
   - _Her journals stand as a monument of everyday colonial life._
8. A surveying reference point marked by a permanently fixed marker.
   - Simple: A fixed marker that surveyors use to mark an exact spot of land.
   - _The crew installed a brass monument to mark the township boundary._
   - _Each section corner was fixed by a concrete monument set deep in the ground._
9. A natural or artificial object used as a reference point for orientation or measurement.
   - Simple: A natural or man-made object that people use to find their way or measure from.
   - _Early explorers treated the distinctive peak as a monument for charting their route._
   - _The boulder functioned as a natural monument from which distances were measured._
12. A legal document, especially one serving as a formal record.
   - Simple: An official paper that records a legal fact or agreement.
   - _The deed stood as the legal monument of the family's claim._
   - _Lawyers examined the old monument to confirm the property's history._
13. A pile of stones left by a prospector to mark and claim ownership of a mineral find.
   - Simple: A pile of stones a miner leaves to claim the rights to ore.
   - _The prospector raised a stone monument to stake his claim to the silver vein._
   - _Each claim was marked by a monument of piled stones at its corners._
14. Alternative spelling of Monument.
   - Simple: Alternative spelling of Monument. Used for one of cycling's most famous one-day races.
   - _Paris–Roubaix, the cobbled monument held each April, punishes riders with mile after mile of rough farm roads._
   - _Only a handful of riders have ever won all five monuments._

## Verb

10. To mark a place, or honor the memory of someone or something, by setting up a monument.
   - Simple: To put up a monument to mark a place or to remember someone or something.
   - _Local leaders chose to monument the site of the historic signing._
   - _The battlefield was heavily monumented in the decades after the war, as each state raised a memorial to its own regiments._
11. To mark a location by placing a surveyor's monument there.
   - Simple: To mark a place by putting a fixed survey marker there.
   - _Engineers must monument every new corner before the plat is approved._
   - _The original crew monumented the boundary lines a century ago._

## Origin

From Middle English monument, borrowed via Old French monument from Latin monumentum ('memorial'), which derives from monēre ('to remind').

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/monument (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).