mon·o·lith

(mŏn′ə-lĭth′)

1. A large block of stone, especially one used in architecture or sculpture.

2. Something, such as a column or monument, made from one large block of stone.

3. An outcropping, cliff, or mountain having the appearance of a single block of stone: "On a waterway of grand pilot marks, the finest lay just ahead, Beacon Rock, a distinctive black monolith some eight hundred feet high" (William Least Heat-Moon).

4. Something suggestive of a large block of stone, as in immovability, massiveness, or uniformity: "Standing against a global Communism it took to be monolithic, the Pentagon wanted to be taken as a monolith" (William Carroll).

[French monolithe, from Greek monolithos, consisting of a single stone : mono-, mono- + lithos, stone.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

monolith

(ˈmɒnəlɪθ)

1. (Geological Science) a large block of stone or anything that resembles one in appearance, intractability, etc

2. (Art Terms) a statue, obelisk, column, etc, cut from one block of stone

3. (Civil Engineering) 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

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

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mon•o•lith

(ˈmɒn ə lɪθ)

n.

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.

3. something having a uniform, massive, redoubtable, or inflexible quality or character.

[1820–30; < Latin monolithus < Greek monólithos made of one stone. See mono-, -lith]

monolith

a sculpture or monument made from a single large block of stone, as an Egyptian obelisk. — monolithic, adj.

monolith

A single large block of stone as used in a prehistoric monument.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

monolith - a single great stone (often in the form of a column or obelisk)

stone - building material consisting of a piece of rock hewn in a definite shape for a special purpose; "he wanted a special stone to mark the site"

monolith

noun

1. standing stone, megalith, menhir, sarsen stone a fine stone circle surrounding a central monolith

2. multinational, corporation A deal between the two would have created a powerful monolith.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

monolith

[ˈmɒnəʊlɪθ] N → monolito m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

monolith

[ˈmɒnəlɪθ] n → monolithe m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

monolith

n → Monolith m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

monolith

[ˈmɒnəʊlɪθ] n → monolito

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Thuvia of Ptarth watched the shadow behind the monolith at the opening to the avenue opposite her.

Something had moved, stealthily, in the shadow of one of the great monoliths that line the avenue where it entered the plaza opposite her!

Keeping in the shadows of the great monoliths that line the Avenue of Quays of sleeping Aaanthor, he approached the plaza.

View in context

For an instant he appeared, in this frame of granite, like the angel of chaos, but in pushing back the lateral rocks, he lost his point of support, for the monolith which weighed upon his shoulders, and the boulder, pressing upon him with all its weight, brought the giant down upon his knees.

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Half an hour later I was sitting on a bench inspecting, with strong interest, a noble monolith which we were skimming by--a monolith not shaped by man, but by Nature's free great hand--a massy pyramidal rock eighty feet high, devised by Nature ten million years ago against the day when a man worthy of it should need it for his monument.

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The place took its name from a stone pillar which stood there, a strange rude monolith, from a stratum unknown in any local quarry, on which was roughly carved a human hand.

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Scattered all about the mighty monolith were sphinxes of noble countenance, carved out of Egyptian granite as hard as blue steel, and whose shapely features the wear of five thousand years had failed to mark or mar.

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How the principle was set in motion, of course none of us saw; Gagool was careful to avoid this; but I have little doubt that there was some very simple lever, which was moved ever so little by pressure at a secret spot, thereby throwing additional weight on to the hidden counter-balances, and causing the monolith to be lifted from the ground.

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This inner wall was set with little round towers alternating along its entire summit with pointed monoliths. In places these had fallen, and the wall was ruined, but it was in a much better state of preservation than the outer wall.

At either side of its great entrance stood rows of tall pillars, each capped by a huge, grotesque bird carved from the solid rock of the monoliths.

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On all sides of you as you walk are the houses of these forgotten folk, with their graves and the huge monoliths which are supposed to have marked their temples.

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