monolithic

Etymology

Etymonline, the Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com take it as formed from English monolith + -ic;^[2][3][4] the OED analyses it as mono- and -lithic, noting that the adjective and noun monolith are recorded slightly later,^[5] and Merriam-Webster derives it from French monolithe or Latin monolithus with -ic.^[6] The French word is recorded from 1532, in Middle French as monolythe, made of a single stone,^[5] and comes from the Latin adjective, from Ancient Greek μονόλιθος (monólithos, “made of a single stone”),^[5][2][3] formed from μονο- (mono-) and λίθος (líthos, “stone”).^[5][2] Etymonline traces the first element to Proto-Indo-European *men- (“small, isolated”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Formed of a single block of stone: 1802 in Etymonline,^[2] 1825 in the OED, in Fosbroke's Encyclopædia of Antiquities.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a term for stonework and monuments cut from one block,^[5][2] and since the mid 19th century it has also meant relating to or made up of monoliths.^[5][2] Civil engineers used it from 1874 of concrete cast as one solid mass.^[5] The extended sense, massive, immovable and uniform, and of an organization, party or government, large, rigid and allowing no internal difference, is recorded from about 1900, in F. Norris's The Pit,^[5][3] while Etymonline dates figurative use to 1920.^[2] In electronics, from 1963, it describes a circuit whose components are all formed in a single chip.^[5][7] In 1970s American drug slang it meant highly intoxicated, a pun on stoned.^[8]

Timeline

• 1802 – formed of a single block of stone.^[2] The OED's first record is from 1825.^[5][6]
• 1849 – of or relating to monoliths.^[2] The OED has it from 1851.^[5]
• 1874 – of concrete, forming a solid unbroken mass.^[5]
• before 1902 – massive, immovable, uniform; of an organization or government.^[5] Etymonline dates figurative use to 1920.^[2]
• 1963 – of a circuit, formed in a single chip.^[5]
• 1971 – in slang, highly intoxicated by a drug.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Formed or carved from a single block of stone.^[7][6][5]
2. Of, relating to or made up of monoliths: a monolithic stone circle.^[7][6][5]
3. Of concrete or a structure: cast or formed as a single piece, without joints.^[6][5]
4. Huge, uniform and hard to change; of an organization or state, large and rigid, allowing no diversity: a monolithic bureaucracy.^[7][5][3]
5. (electronics) Of an integrated circuit: having all its components made in or on a single chip of silicon.^[7][5]

Word family

• monolithically

Related words

• monolith
• mono-
• -lith
• lith-
• lithic
• -ic

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com