monomath
monomath noun: a person with an extensive knowledge of a single subject or field, but little knowledge of others.
Noun
monomath (plural monomaths)
- A person with an extensive knowledge of a single subject or field, but little knowledge of others.
- It is not a refuge for self-indulgent monomaths to channelize their aggressions within a community of colleagues and students.1960, National Review, volume 8, page 52
- We don't like polymaths any more. Perhaps it's because even being a monomath is too difficult now; even specialists specialise only in a small subset of their specialty, and learning is an either/or business.2006 November 13, Michael Bywater, “Master of all trades”, in New Statesman
- Synonyms:
- specialist
Synonyms of monomath
Forms of monomath
| plural | monomaths |
|---|
Origin of monomath
From mono- (“one, single”) + Ancient Greek μάθη (máthē, “learning”), from μανθάνω (manthánō, “to learn”). Compare polymath.
Words formed from monomath
Questions about monomath
- What does monomath mean?
- Monomath means a person with an extensive knowledge of a single subject or field, but little knowledge of others.
- What part of speech is monomath?
- Monomath is a noun.
- What is the plural of monomath?
- The plural of monomath is monomaths.
Words near monomath in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: monomath (page history and authors). 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:
Cite this entry: “monomath.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/monomath. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.