monument

noun

mon·​u·​ment ˈmän-yə-mənt 

1

obsolete : a burial vault : sepulchre

2

: a written legal document or record : treatise

3

a(1)

: a lasting evidence, reminder, or example of someone or something notable or great

(2)

: a distinguished person

b

: a memorial stone or a building erected in remembrance of a person or event

4

archaic : an identifying mark : evidence

also : portent, sign

5

obsolete : a carved statue : effigy

6

: a boundary or position marker (such as a stone)

7

: national monument

8

: a written tribute

Synonyms

• tombstone
• stone
• plaque

Examples of monument in a Sentence

They have erected a monument in his honor.

the Quakers disapproved of monuments, regarding them as idolatrous, so thousands of Nantucketers spend their eternal rest in complete anonymity

Recent Examples on the Web

That monument, erected in 1892, finally found a new home earlier this year in the Lost in New Haven Museum, NBC Connecticut reported. —Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 13 Oct. 2025

Before our very eyes, left-wing radicals toppled his statues, vandalized his monuments, tarnished his character, and sought to exile him from our public spaces. —Addy Bink, The Hill, 12 Oct. 2025

Art Deco Mumbai Trust, which was founded by Atul Kumar in 2019 and is dedicated to chronicling Mumbai’s Deco period, has documented more than 1,400 Art Deco monuments in the Mumbai metro area alone. —Sofia Celeste, Footwear News, 11 Oct. 2025

The new monument mirrors Paris’s Arc De Triomphe, and in the post appears to be across the Potomac River from Arlington National Cemetery. —Ross O'Keefe, The Washington Examiner, 11 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin monumentum, literally, memorial, from monēre to remind — more at mind

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing monument

• national monument

Kids Definition

monument

noun

mon·​u·​ment ˈmän-yə-mənt 

1

: something that serves as a memorial

especially : a building, pillar, stone, or statue honoring a person or event

2

: a work, saying, or deed that lasts or that is worth preserving

the book is a monument of scholarship

3

: a boundary marker (as a stone)

4

: a place of historic interest or natural beauty set aside and maintained by the government as public property