adj

monumental

mon-yuu-MEHN-tuhl

adj

Extremely large, impressive, or grand in scale.

"Building the canal was a monumental engineering achievement."

"They faced a monumental task in rebuilding the entire coastline after the storm."

Relating to or resembling a monument.

"The building's monumental staircase was designed to impress visiting dignitaries."

How to Use Monumental

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishHuge, impressive, or historically important — often used for achievements, mistakes, or tasks.

Common mistake

Often used ironically for failures, as in "a monumental blunder" — it doesn't always mean something positive.

Common pairings

monumental task monumental achievement monumental mistake monumental scale

more monumental comparative, most monumental superlative

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Building the canal was a _____ engineering achievement.

From Late Latin monumentalis, built on Latin monumentum ("monument") plus the adjective suffix -al.

mental dental rental parental Oriental elemental accidental ornamental judgmental incidental regimental fundamental