[syn: repository, monument]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Monument \Mon"u*ment\, n. [F., fr. L. monumentum, fr. monere to
remind, admonish. See Monition, and cf. Moniment.]
1. Something which stands, or remains, to keep in remembrance
what is past; a memorial.
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Of ancient British art
A pleasing monument. --Philips.
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Our bruised arms hung up for monuments. --Shak.
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2. A building, pillar, stone, or the like, erected to
preserve the remembrance of a person, event, action, etc.;
as, the Washington monument; the Bunker Hill monument.
Also, a tomb, with memorial inscriptions.
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On your family's old monument
Hang mournful epitaphs, and do all rites
That appertain unto a burial. --Shak.
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3. A stone or other permanent object, serving to indicate a
limit or to mark a boundary.
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4. A saying, deed, or example, worthy of record.
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Acts and Monuments of these latter and perilous
days. --Foxe.
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Syn: Memorial; remembrance; tomb; cenotaph.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
monument
n 1: a structure erected to commemorate persons or events [syn:
memorial, monument]
2: an important site that is marked and preserved as public
property
3: a burial vault (usually for some famous person) [syn:
repository, monument]
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):
MONUMENT, n. A structure intended to commemorate something which
either needs no commemoration or cannot be commemorated.
The bones of Agammemnon are a show,
And ruined is his royal monument,
but Agammemnon's fame suffers no diminution in consequence. The
monument custom has its _reductiones ad absurdum_ in monuments "to the
unknown dead" -- that is to say, monuments to perpetuate the memory of
those who have left no memory.