memorial Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a recognition of meritorious service
remembrance; commemoration.
noun a written statement of facts submitted in conjunction with a petition to an authority
noun a structure erected to commemorate persons or events
monument.

F. mémorial, L. memorialis, fr. memoria. See Memory.

Serving to preserve remembrance; commemorative; as, a memorial building.
There high in air, memorial of my name, Fix the smooth oar, and bid me live to fame. Pope.
Contained in memory; as, a memorial possession.
Mnemonic; assisting the memory.
This succession of Aspirate, Soft, and Hard, may be expressed by the memorial word ASH. Skeat.

Cf. F. mémorial.

Anything intended to preserve the memory of a person or event; something which serves to keep something else in remembrance; a monument. Macaulay.
Churches have names; some as memorials of peace, some of wisdom, some in memory of the Trinity itself. Hooker.
A memorandum; a record. Obs. or R. Hayward.
A written representation of facts, addressed to the government, or to some branch of it, or to a society, etc., -- often accompanied with a petition.
Memory; remembrance. Obs.
Precious is the memorial of the just. Evelyn.
(Diplomacy) A species of informal state paper, much used in negotiation.