monolith
9
7.5
- noun
- /ˈmɒnəˌlɪθ/
:
monolito
- A weird monolith was found in the Utah desert.
- stone monolith
And it's like a huge building this, you know, this monolith of a building of Moscow University.
- And it's like a huge building this, you know, this monolith of a building of Moscow University.
- The second aspect is the humans basically are on a mission to recover this monolith and the AI has the same exact mission.
- But perhaps cities of Titan blocks and sky flung monoliths, all dripping with green ooze and sinister with latent horror.
- I mean, it was a huge monolith, A superpower.
- Like even out in Micronesia and Indonesia, those, those, those islands out there have those monoliths of people standing in that same pose.
Examples
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A few of the kids walk around the Monolith, examining it more closely.
Fiction book (1995) -
Nine years ago the monolith was detected here.
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Where did this monolith come from?
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We have nothing new here on the monolith.
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You head towards the monolith.
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Here, you'll also be able to see a monolith from Easter Island.
Blog text (18) -
A towering black monolith seems to burst straight up through the heavens.
Fiction book (1995) -
The Institute occupied the central high-rise building, a curved, concrete monolith looming above the Illinois plains like a modern Stonehenge.
Fiction book (2001) -
Joshua Tree National Park in California specializes in huge rock piles and giant monoliths that resemble scenes right out of "The Flintstones."
Academic text (2001) -
In the ancient city, the tall stone monolith stood as a remarkable symbol of their civilization.
Synonyms
52
2.6
A tall upright support for a building or a standing stone used as a monument
12
7.7
A tall four-sided stone pillar that gets narrower toward a pointed top and marks a place
3
9.5
A very large stone used to build ancient monuments like Stonehenge
1
9.9
A tall stone with writing that honors a person or event from long ago
A very large object made from one piece or an organization that cannot change easily
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
monolith = mono + lith
The meaning is literally 'single stone,' but the second element is an obscure classical combining form rather than an everyday English word, so most learners will not infer it automatically.
Etymology
Monolith comes from the Greek parts mono- ('one') and -lith ('stone'). So it literally means a single big stone, which is why a monolith is a large upright block or pillar.