monolith

1. (also attributively) A large, single block of stone which is a natural feature; or a block of stone or other similar material used in architecture and sculpture, especially one carved into a monument in ancient times.Examples: "Tomb of Napoleon I. [...] Twelve colossal statues, by [James] Pradier, representing as many victories, stand against the pilasters, facing the tomb, consisting of an immense monolith of porphyry, weighing 135,000 lbs., and brought from Lake Onega in Finland at a cost of 140,000fr."; "Rumour, with her thousand tongues, affirms that the "Prince Albert Memorial" will not take the form of a monolith; we shall not be sorry to learn the fact of some more suitable monument having been decided upon."; "[...] I do not think that the idea of a serpent with a ball at its mouth is so very palpable a religious symbol, and one so innate, that it should be the very first thing which would occur as an emblem of the great deity of the waters, to aboriginal Egyptians, to monolith-setters in Brittany, to mound-builders in Ohio, to Peruvians and Mexicans."Antonyms: polylithalsoattributive

2. (also attributively and figurative) Anything massive, uniform, and unmovable, especially a towering and impersonal cultural, political, or social organization or structure.Examples: "It was the setting up of generalizations of the first kind in [Charles J.] Fillmore (1966a, b) and (1968a) that awarded case grammar the role of being, besides abstract syntax, the second crack in the transformational monolith of the late sixties."; "But English society is no monolith, and it is a gross simplification to force it into one mould."; "Recent scholarship on colonial history has demonstrated that British America was not simply an English but rather a multicultural society. Far from being a homogeneous monolith, colonial society comprised many divergent races and ethnic groups."Antonyms: chimeraalsoattributivefiguratively

3. (chemistry) A substrate having many tiny channels that is cast as a single piece, which is used as a stationary phase for chromatography, as a catalytic surface, etc.Examples: "The conference chairman, Alois Jungbauer, Ph.D., professor at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna, defined a monolith as a continuous stationary-phase cast as a homogeneous column in a single piece. Monoliths are further characterized by a highly interconnected network of channels, most with sizes ranging from 1 to 5 µm. The adsorptive surface is directly accessible to solutes as they pass through the column."; "[W]ork performed by Gough et al. looked at the long-term culture (28 days) of craniofacial fibroblasts seeded on to monolith calcium/sodium phosphate glass surfaces."

4. (British, horticulture) A dead tree whose height and size have been reduced by breaking off or cutting its branches.Examples: "[page 98] If a stub is to be retained, either for the reasons stated above, or when a tree is to be reduced to a "monolith" [...], unconventional methods of cutting or fracturing (not recommended in BS 3998) may be employed, [...] [page 147] Even dead standing or fallen trees are important, and so owners should be encouraged to be untidy-minded and to leave monoliths or fallen dead wood in situ."; "Stumps of older fallen trees, known as upright monoliths, have incredible environmental value and can provide a home and food source for insects for decades."; "Unexpectedly, even some of the monoliths are throwing out new shoots. This is great news, as these trees contain ancient woodland DNA, so are a very valuable seedbank. Further along the site, Penny shows me a famous translocated stump... the Cubbington pear tree. [...] The stump was translocated, and the trunk used as a monolith - but not before dozens of cuttings had been taken, some of which are growing nearby. And the stump? It's already throwing out dozens of new shoots as it's become re-established."British