monolith
/ˈmɑn.əˌlɪθ/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.81 in modern English
Meaning
noun
A large, single block of stone which is a natural feature; or a block of stone or other similar material used in architecture and sculpture, especially one carved into a monument in ancient times.
noun
Anything massive, uniform, and unmovable, especially a towering and impersonal cultural, political, or social organization or structure.
noun
A substrate having many tiny channels that is cast as a single piece, which is used as a stationary phase for chromatography, as a catalytic surface, etc.
noun
A dead tree whose height and size have been reduced by breaking off or cutting its branches.
British usage
verb
To create (something) as, or convert (one or more things) into, a monolith.
British usage; Transitive verb
name
An unincorporated community in Kern County, California, United States.
Example Sentences
- "Tomb of Napoleon I. [...] Twelve colossal statues, by [James] Pradier, representing as many victories, stand against the pilasters, facing the tomb, consisting of an immense monolith of porphyry, weighing 135,000 lbs., and brought from Lake Onega in Finland at a cost of 140,000fr."
- "Rumour, with her thousand tongues, affirms that the "Prince Albert Memorial" will not take the form of a monolith; we shall not be sorry to learn the fact of some more suitable monument having been decided upon."
- "[...] I do not think that the idea of a serpent with a ball at its mouth is so very palpable a religious symbol, and one so innate, that it should be the very first thing which would occur as an emblem of the great deity of the waters, to aboriginal Egyptians, to monolith-setters in Brittany, to mound-builders in Ohio, to Peruvians and Mexicans."
- "The practice of using large blocks of stone, either as monoliths or as forming parts of structures, has existed from the earliest times in all parts of the world."
- "Similar engines are erected in Yorkshire on concrete foundations, with a top layer of monolith or Bramley Fall stone, costing from £800 to £1000."
- "On 2 April 1901 Doyle wrote to his mother from Rowe's Duchy Hotel at Princetown: [...] We did fourteen miles over the moor to-day and are now pleasantly weary. It is a great place, very sad and wild, dotted with the dwellings of prehistoric man, strange monoliths and huts and graves."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmɑn.əˌlɪθ/
- British English: /ˈmɒn.ə.lɪθ/
Usage
- British usage
- Transitive verb