landmark
n. · v.-
1 recognizable feature (n.) B1 Intermediatea building or natural feature that is easy to see and helps you know where you are.
a prominent or conspicuous object on land that serves as a guide for travellers or for identifying a location.
ExampleThe Eiffel Tower is the most famous landmark in Paris.
ExampleSailors once relied on that jagged coastal cliff as a vital landmark to navigate the treacherous entrance to the bay.
-
2 significant event (n.) B2 Upper Intermediatean important stage or event in the development of something.
an event, discovery, or change that marks an important stage or turning point in a process.
ExampleThe invention of the lightbulb was a landmark in human history.
ExampleThe 1964 Civil Rights Act stands as a landmark of social legislation that fundamentally altered the American legal landscape.
Show 2 more sensesShow fewer
-
3 boundary marker (n.) C2 Proficiency Archaican object, like a stone or tree, used to show where a piece of land ends.
a physical object used to mark the boundary of a property or territory.
ExampleThe old oak tree served as a landmark between the two farms for centuries.
ExampleThe surveyors searched for the original stone landmark mentioned in the eighteenth-century deed to resolve the property dispute.
- boundary stone
- border
-
4 to protect a building (v.) C1 Advanced American English Formal Lawto officially name a building as a landmark so it cannot be destroyed.
to grant a building or site official status as a landmark, typically to ensure its preservation.
ExampleThe city council voted to landmark the historic theatre to save it from developers.
ExamplePreservationists are campaigning to landmark the mid-century industrial complex before the demolition permits are approved.
UsageThe verb is transitive and requires a direct object.
From Middle English landmark, from Old English landmearc (“boundary”), from Proto-West Germanic landamarku (“boundary, landmark”). Equivalent to land + mark. Cognate with German Landmarke (“landmark”), Danish landemærke (“landmark”), Swedish landmärke (“landmark”), Norwegian landemerke (“landmark”) and Faroese landamark (“land frontier”). Compare also Middle English londes-mark (“boundary”).