monumental

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++朗文当代英语 5++LDOCE 5++朗文 5++

mon·u·ment·al /ˌmɒnjəˈmentl◂ $ ˌmɑː-/ adjective 1 [usually before noun]IMPORTANT a monumental achievement, piece of work etc is very important and is usually based on many years of work 丰碑式的，伟大的 a monumental contribution to the field of medicine 对医学领域的重大贡献 Charles Darwin’s monumental study, ‘The Origin of Species’ 查尔斯•达尔文的不朽著作《物种起源》2 [only before noun]TOO/TOO MUCH extremely large, bad, good, impressive etc 极大[坏，好等]的 Banks and building societies were yesterday accused of monumental incompetence. 银行和购房互助协会昨天被指责极其不称职。 a monumental task 艰巨的任务 There was a monumental traffic jam on the freeway. 高速公路上出现了严重的交通阻塞。3 [only before noun]AA relating to a monument or built as a monument 纪念碑[塔]的；纪念性的，作为纪念的 a monumental arch 纪念拱门

Examples from the Corpus

monumental• The costs, of course, were monumental.• Of course, the statue of Michael Jackson, too, is a monumental advertising campaign.• He was also in the huge orchestra which recorded and toured performing Charles Mingus's monumental composition Epitaph.• The concert was a monumental embarrassment.• The Foreign Secretary opened his speech by referring to the monumental events that now surround us.• Nor will it suffice simply to survey the mass of habits and rituals involved in the monumental institution of the Empire.• But what a monumental place in the history of publicity she has.• The pharaohs lived in mud palaces but were buried in monumental stone edifices.• At the same time, a monumental struggle was going on in the state and federal courts.• It was a monumental task.• a monumental temple• Darwin published his monumental work on evolution in 1859.