Monumentalness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality or state of being exceptionally large, significant, or impressive; the characteristic of having great importance or lasting impact; the condition of embodying grandeur or enduring historical value
2. A measure of remarkable size, profound significance, or impressive scale; the attribute of possessing lasting influence or notable remembrance; the condition of representing monumental stature or timelessness
3. An attribute denoting vastness, remarkable importance, or impressive magnitude; the state of being highly significant or enduring; the quality of symbolizing greatness or timeless historical relevance

Etymology: "Monumentalness" is a straightforward formation: the adjective "monumental" with the noun-forming suffix "-ness", which English has attached to native and borrowed adjectives since Old English. The base word comes through French from Latin "monumentum", a memorial or tomb, which derives from "monere", to remind or warn. A monument was originally anything that kept something in mind, so the root meaning is about memory rather than size. "Monumental" first meant "serving as a memorial" or "of the nature of a monument", and its sense of "huge, impressive in scale" developed later, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as things built to commemorate people tended to be large. The "-ness" noun is the more recent and rarer of the two, so the size sense is the one it carries most often.

Synonyms: grandeur, majesty, magnificence, monumentality, impressiveness

Antonyms: insignificance, triviality, petiteness, unimportance