monument

The word “monument” means a structure, statue, or building built to honour and remember a person or event. In plain terms, something built, usually in stone or metal, to keep a person or event in public memory.

“Monument” is pronounced MON-yuu-muhnt (/ˈmɑnjʊmənt/ in IPA).

Here is “monument” used in a sentence: “Tourists lined up to photograph the war monument in the town square.”

Depending on how it is used, “monument” can be a noun and a verb.

The word “monument” comes from Latin. From Old French monument, from Latin monumentum ("a reminder, memorial"), from monere ("to remind, warn") — the same root behind "admonish.".

“Monument” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.

“Monument” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a structure, statue, or building built to honour and remember a person or event.

The two overlap, but a memorial is built specifically to remember someone who has died or a tragic event, while a monument can honour any person or event, including triumphant ones. Every memorial is a kind of monument, but not every monument is a memorial.

A statue is a carved or cast figure of a person or animal, while a monument is any structure built to honour or remember someone or something. A statue can be a monument, but monuments also include arches, columns, obelisks, and whole buildings.

A monument is built deliberately to commemorate a person or event, whereas a landmark is simply a feature that is easy to recognise or historically important, whether or not it was built to honour anything. A hill or an old bridge can be a landmark without being a monument.

Monument frequently appears in phrases such as "national monument," "historic monument," "ancient monument," and "erect a monument." Figuratively, something can be called "a monument to" an idea, as in "a monument to human courage."