Etymologically
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monumental

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌmɒnjʊˈmɛntəl/[1]
  • US: /ˌmɑnjəˈmɛntəl/[1]

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

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