monolith

Borrowed from French monolithe, from Latin monolithus (“consisting of a single stone”), from Ancient Greek μονόλιθος (monólithos), from μόνος (mónos, “single, alone”) + λίθος (líthos, “stone”); synchronically, mono- +‎ -lith.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒ.nə.lɪθ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑ.nə.lɪθ/

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monolith (plural monoliths)

1. A large single block of stone, used in architecture and sculpture.
   • 2012 January 1, Henry Petroski, “The Washington Monument”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 1, page 16:

     The Washington Monument is often described as an obelisk, and sometimes even as a “true obelisk,” even though it is not. A true obelisk is a monolith, a pylon formed out of a single piece of stone.

2. Anything massive, uniform and unmovable.
   • 14 November 2018, Jesse Hassenger, AV Club Disney goes viral with an ambitious, overstuffed Wreck-It Ralph sequel

     Intentionally or not, the movie makes Disney feel as enormous as the internet itself, containing a series of micro-targeted idiosyncrasies and in-jokes that are nonetheless controlled by a cultural monolith (whether that’s Disney or whatever massive corporation owns your local ISP).

   • 1996, Femi Ojo-Ade, Being Black, Being Human: More Essays on Black Culture (page 157)

     For whatever reason, one knows that the Senegalese poet-president became the Father of the ideology, cleverly weaving a network of cultural contributions and atavistic, essential, and behavioral components into a kind of black monolith hardly acceptable to anyone.

3. (chemistry, chromatography) A continuous stationary-phase cast as a homogeneous column in a single piece.

• monolithal
• monolithic
• monolithism

• (anything massive, uniform and unmovable): chimera

• (chemistry) Gagnon, Pete (1 August 2008). "Monoliths Emerge as Key Purification Methodology", Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, pg. 48. ISSN 1935-472X. Retrieved on 20 September 2008.