a recognition of meritorious service
"The company established a memorial to honor the exceptional dedication shown by its employees during the crisis."
a written statement of facts submitted in conjunction with a petition to an authority
"The lawyer filed a detailed memorial outlining all the evidence before submitting the final petition to the court."
Memory; recollection.
"The old oak tree served as a living memorial to the childhood summers we spent there."
In plain English: A memorial is something built to remember and honor someone who has died.
"They placed a small memorial on the corner of the street to honor the soldier who died in the war."
Usage: While "memorial" can mean a memory or record, it most commonly refers to a physical structure like a monument or statue built to honor someone who has died. Use this term when describing a permanent tribute rather than an abstract recollection of the past.
Serving as a remembrance of someone or something; commemorative.
"The town unveiled a new stone memorial to honor the firefighters who lost their lives in the fire last year."
In plain English: A memorial adjective describes something that honors and remembers someone who has died.
"The city built a memorial statue to honor the fallen soldiers."
Usage: Use "memorial" to describe an event, building, or object created to honor and remember a specific person or past occasion. Do not use it to refer simply to the act of remembering, which should be described with verbs like "remember" or "commemorate."
The word memorial comes from the Late Latin memoriale, which was derived from memorialis. It entered English through a process called surface analysis, where speakers combined the root for "memory" with the suffix "-al.