obelisk
/ˈɒbəlɪsk/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ˈɔbəlɪsk/
obelisk noun: a tall, square, tapered, stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point, frequently used as a monument.
Noun
obelisk (plural obelisks)
- A tall, square, tapered, stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point, frequently used as a monument.
- "The clay envelope is Sumerian. It is from the third millennium B.C. It was dug up from the city of Eridu is southern Iraq. The black stele or obelisk is the Code of Hammurabi, which dates from about 1750 B.C.1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 200
- 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.2012 January, Henry Petroski, “The Washington Monument”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 16
- A symbol resembling a horizontal line (–), sometimes together with one or two dots (for example, ⨪ or ÷), which was used in ancient manuscripts and texts to mark a word or passage as doubtful or spurious, or redundant.
- A dagger symbol (†), which is used in printed matter as a reference mark to refer the reader to a footnote, marginal note, etc.; beside a person's name to indicate that the person is deceased; or beside a date to indicate that it is a person's death date.
- An RNA structure similar to a viroid, with a rod-like secondary structure, which comprises its own phylogenetic group.
Verb
obelisk (third-person singular simple present obelisks, present participle obelisking, simple past and past participle obelisked)
- To adopt the obelisk posture; to point the tip of the abdomen towards the sun.
- Dragonflies that spend the day in full sun may obelisk to minimize the sunlight striking the body. An obelisking dragonfly looks like it's doing a headstand[…]2004, Cynthia Berger, Dragonflies
obelisk meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
obelisk in Hindi
- tall, square, tapered, stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point
- शिलास्तंभ śilāstambh
obelisk in Urdu
- obelisk,
- ستون sutūn
obelisk in Bengali
- চার কোণা লম্বা স্মৃতিস্তম্ভ
obelisk in Malayalam
- pillar, column, needle
- സ്തൂപം, സ്തംഭം, തൂണ്, കൽത്തൂൺ, സൂചികാഗ്രസ്തംഭം, കണ
More languagesFewer languages
- obelisk in Tagalog
- obelisko
- obelisk in Arabic
- مِسَلَّة misalla
- obelisk in Persian
- ابلیسک obelisk
- obelisk in Vietnamese
- tượng đài
- obelisk in Myanmar
- ကျောက်စာတိုင် kyaukcatuing
Synonyms of obelisk
Forms of obelisk
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | obelisks |
| alternative form | obelisc |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | obelisks |
| present participle | obelisking |
| past participle | obelisked |
| past | obelisked |
Origin of obelisk
From Middle French obelisque, from Latin obeliscus (“obelisk”), from Ancient Greek ὀβελίσκος (obelískos), diminutive of ὀβελός (obelós, “needle”). Compare obelus.
Words formed from obelisk
Questions about obelisk
- What does obelisk mean?
- Obelisk means a tall, square, tapered, stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point, frequently used as a monument.
- What is obelisk in Hindi?
- Obelisk in Hindi is शिलास्तंभ (śilāstambh). See Obelisk meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is obelisk?
- Obelisk can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce obelisk?
- Obelisk is pronounced /ˈɒbəlɪsk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of obelisk?
- The plural of obelisk is obelisks.
Words near obelisk in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: obelisk (page history and authors); ستون (Urdu) (page history and authors); obelisk (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); obelisk (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-obelisk.wav.
Cite this entry: “obelisk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/obelisk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.