monolith

[ mon-uh-lith ]

noun

1. an obelisk, column, large statue, etc., formed of a single block of stone.
2. a single block or piece of stone of considerable size, especially when used in architecture or sculpture.
3. something having a uniform, massive, redoubtable, or inflexible quality or character.

monolith

/ ˈmɒnəlɪθ /

noun

1. a large block of stone or anything that resembles one in appearance, intractability, etc
2. a statue, obelisk, column, etc, cut from one block of stone
3. a large hollow foundation piece sunk as a caisson and having a number of compartments that are filled with concrete when it has reached its correct position

Other Words From

• mono·lithism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of monolith¹

First recorded in 1820–30; from Latin monolithus, from Greek monólithos “made of one stone”; equivalent to mono- + -lith

Word History and Origins

Origin of monolith¹

C19: via French from Greek monolithos made from a single stone

Example Sentences

It’s been nearly a month since we last heard anything about the mysterious monolith in Lockhart Basin, Utah.

From Outside Online

Copycat monoliths showed up in Romania, California, and New Zealand, only to disappear soon after.

From Outside Online

If we’re going to be purists about pristine nature, then we’d do better to focus our ire on things like roads, mines, and, for that matter, national parks, which alter the landscape much more dramatically than this monolith.

From Outside Online

It was a simpler time back in October when Taboola and Outbrain announced plans to form a content recommendation monolith.

From Digiday

We can’t treat even the Communist Party as a complete monolith.

From Freakonomics

Abrams against harnessed that monolith them, the American Jewish leaders, whom Abrams presumed to speak for.

From The Daily Beast

The Palestinian monolith will never accept Israel, Romney's saying.

From The Daily Beast

With a computer that goes bad and the mystery of the monolith and the indescribable ending that nobody could understand.

From The Daily Beast

Hey, you remember that scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey, where the monkeys were puzzling over the monolith?

From The Daily Beast

However, we need to recognize that Hamas is not an ideological monolith.

From The Daily Beast

The Seven Pagodas, specially so-called, are monolith temples, hewn on the spot out of massive blocks of rock.

From Project Gutenberg

It had been shaped by Nature herself out of an immense monolith.

From Project Gutenberg

Originally it was one hundred and ten feet long, and therefore the longest monolith ever quarried.

From Project Gutenberg

The huge monolith rose some eight hundred feet above the tableland on which the village was built.

From Project Gutenberg

A menhir is a rude monolith set up on end, a great single stone, the base of which is buried deep in the soil.

From Project Gutenberg