monumental

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin monumentālis (“of a monument”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which the OED treats as classical Latin of the 1st century AD^[2] and Etymonline and Merriam-Webster as Late Latin.^[3][4] It is formed from monumentum (“monument”) and -ālis,^[2][4] and monumentum, literally "something that reminds", is from moneō (“to remind”),^[3][7] from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”).^[3][7] The Shorter Oxford takes it instead as an English formation from monument and -al.^[8] French monumental is recorded only from 1802,^[2] and English had the slightly earlier monumentary.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Serving as a monument or memorial: 1596, in Charles Fitzgeffry's poem on Sir Francis Drake.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to about 1600, "pertaining to a monument",^[3] and Klein thought it was first used by Shakespeare.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In early use the adjective also meant "of the tomb, sepulchral", from the old sense of monument, a tomb;^[2][4] Merriam-Webster illustrates it with Shakespeare's "smooth as monumental alabaster".^[4] Shakespeare also used it in All's Well that Ends Well for something that serves as a token or proof, a sense that died out in the 18th century.^[2] From 1609, in Troilus and Cressida, it was used of what resembles a monument, large, solid and imposing.^[2] From the 1630s it was extended, especially to non-material things, to mean "vast, stupendous" and, of a work of art or literature, "great and lasting".^[2][3] The sense "historically prominent, of enduring significance" is recorded from 1664 in the OED^[2] and by 1844 in Etymonline.^[3] Johnson (1755) gave only "memorial; preserving memory".^[9] The modern informal use as an intensifier, as in monumental stupidity, grew out of the sense "vast".^[10][2]

Timeline

• 1596 – serving as a monument or memorial.^[2][4]
• a1616 – serving as a token or proof (obsolete by 1736).^[2]
• 1603 – of a monument or tomb; sepulchral.^[2]
• 1609 – like a monument, large and imposing.^[2]
• 1632 – vast, stupendous; of a work, great and lasting.^[2]
• 1664 – historically prominent, of enduring significance.^[2]
• 1844 – by this date, "conspicuous to posterity".^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very large and impressive; massive: monumental stone steps.^[4][10][2]
2. Of great and lasting importance; outstanding: a monumental history of the Roman Empire.^[10][2]
3. (informal) Very great, used to stress how bad something is: a monumental blunder.^[10]
4. Of, relating to or serving as a monument: monumental sculpture.^[10][4][2]
5. (obsolete) Of a tomb; sepulchral.^[4][2]

Word family

• monumentality
• monumentally
• monumentalism
• premonumental
• monumentalize
• unmonumental

Related words

• monument
• monition
• monitor
• admonish

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins