Is there a technical difference between a monument and a memorial?

Answer 1

In memorial of two of the greatest words in the lexicon of yesterday and today, let us look to the Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary and remember the words as they have been defined. If our readers would bow their heads in solemn memory of the word memorial which is at first defined by our dictionary of Webster's as something that keeps remembrance alive then says its a monument! It was this dual nature to our beloved word memorial that we remember here today. And we have come here today not just to remember memorials but monuments as well which the great book by Webster's points out that in days of yore that word meant quite simply a burial vault, but monument had evolved with the English language as a whole and such definitions became obsolete. But a monument could mean a legal document like the Great Writ of Habeas Corpus or The Constitution of the United States, but we like to remember the word for its simple clarity as meaning a lasting evidence, example or reminder, of someone or something of something notable or great.

So in this modern day of high speed connections that allow us to zoom along on this super information highway we lament and mourn the clarity once used that is now so confusing. In times like this we sometimes feel the pain is so great that we can not bear it. These words in someway are gone but not forgotten. And we choose to remember the goodness these words stand for. So, when we go to Washington D.C. and take in the sights, we understand what we are looking at when we look at the Washington Monument or the Jefferson Memorial. Washington nor Jefferson are buried at these sites and if one wanted to be particular with the words then one could argue that even so, The Washington Monument stands as remembrance of George Washington where the Jefferson Memorial stands as a memorial to Jefferson. If we go to their graves we can know that the gravestone is their monument and the inscription their memorial with out too much confusion and yet, it is the English language we are talking about and there is always room for confusion.

Answer 2

a monument is a rocket shape and a memorial is in a rainbow shape