monophonous
UK/məˈnɒ.fə.nəs/
monophonous adjective: able to produce only one sound at a time.
Adjective
monophonous (not comparable)
- Able to produce only one sound at a time.
- Characterized by monophony.
- It was a short monophonous melody with a delicate Oriental redolence, much like a lullaby or love song.1974 March 18, “A Forgotten Melody”, in Time, volume 103, number 11, →ISSN, page 57
- A real danger arose for monophonous Church music through the introduction of polyphony and through the humanistic movement, which influenced, especially in Italy, the musicians of the 16th century.1979, Karl Weinmann, History of Church Music, →ISBN, page 40
- Synonyms:
- monophonic
Synonyms of monophonous
Origin of monophonous
From mono- + -phonous. Compare Ancient Greek μονόφωνος (monóphōnos, “with only one voice or tone”).
Questions about monophonous
- What does monophonous mean?
- Monophonous means able to produce only one sound at a time.
- What part of speech is monophonous?
- Monophonous is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce monophonous?
- Monophonous is pronounced /məˈnɒ.fə.nəs/ (UK).
Words near monophonous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: monophonous (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.
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