monolithic structure
- noun
- /ˌmɒnəˈlɪθɪk ˈstrʌkʧər/
:
estructura monolítica
- The government building was designed as a monolithic structure to symbolize stability and strength.
Examples
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They are probably not solid, monolithic structures, but piles of stones kept together loosely by gravity.
Academic text (2000) -
Many people were impressed by the monolithic structure that seemed to dominate the skyline of the city.
-
It should be a monolithic structure; that is, the body should be machined from a solid piece of metal.
Academic text (1998) -
It is dark, and the moonlight silhouettes the huge monolithic structures.
Fiction book (1990) -
So Il Duce decreed that the cave homes would be razed and replaced with modern monolithic structures.
Fiction book (2002) -
The ancient temple was a monolithic structure, carved from a single stone block.
Synonyms
9
7.5
A large single upright block of stone that forms a pillar or monument
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'monolithic' (massive, single-piece or uniform) modifies 'structure' (built assembly), so a learner who knows both words can infer a very large, single-piece or uniformly built construction. The extended organizational sense (inflexible, uniform organization) is also a natural metaphorical extension of those constituents, so the phrase remains predictable from its parts.
Etymology
The noun monolithic structure comes from old buildings made from one huge block of stone, with monolithic meaning 'one stone' and structure meaning a building. That image of one solid piece explains why the phrase now describes both a very large, solid building and an organization that is 'inflexible and hard to change'.