monotone
/ˈmɒn.ə.təʊn//ˈmɑ.nə.toʊn/
monotone adjective: having a single unvaried pitch.
Adjective
monotone (comparative more monotone, superlative most monotone)
- Having a single unvaried pitch.
- The prominence of the syllables is more monotone than in English, the intonation of the latter having a larger variation of stressed and unstressed syllables.1940, Asiatic Society (Calcutta, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, India), Journal of the Asiatic Society, page 95
- In the formal register, such variation is reduced and the talk has a more monotone, business-like quality.1998, Roger W. Shuy, “Bureaucratic Language in Government and Business”, in Research on Telephone vs. In-Person Administrative Hearings, Georgetown University Press, page 76
- Of a function: that is always nonincreasing or nondecreasing on an interval.
- The function f(x)#58;#61;x³ is monotone on #92;R, while g(x)#58;#61;x² is not.
- Synonyms:
- monotonic
- Synonym of monochrome.
- Synonyms:
- monochrome
Noun
monotone (countable and uncountable, plural monotones)
- A single unvaried tone of speech or a sound.
- When Tima felt like her parents were treating her like a servant, she would speak in monotone and act as though she were a robot.
- It is no very difficult matter to be loud in a high tone of voice; but to be loud and forcible in a low tone, requires great practice and management; this, however, may be facilitated by pronouncing forcibly at firſt in a low monotone; a monotone, though in a low key, and without force, is much...1799, John Walker, Elements of Elocution, Cooper and Wilson, page 309
- A piece of writing in one strain throughout.
Verb
monotone (third-person singular simple present monotones, present participle monotoning, simple past and past participle monotoned)
- To speak in a monotone.
monotone meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
monotone in Tamil
- ஒருதொனி, ஒருநிறம், ஓரியல்பு, ஒரே தொனியில் பேசுதல், ஒரு நிறம்
monotone in Urdu
- ایک سرا, یک رنگ
monotone in Bengali
- একঘেয়ে স্বর, সুরের পরিবর্তনহীনতা
monotone in Malayalam
- മാറ്റമില്ലാത്ത ഒരേ സ്വരം, ഒരേ സ്വരത്തിലുളള കുറെ ശബ്ദങ്ങൾ, ഒരേ നിറം, ഏകസ്വരം
More languagesFewer languages
- monotone in Kannada
- ಏಕತಾನತೆ, ವೈವಿಧ್ಯರಾಹಿತ್ಯ
Examples of monotone in a sentence
- Where defined, the first derivative of a monotone function never changes sign, although it may be zero.
- “I appreciate your curiosity,” Oliver answers in hurried monotone without inflection or pauses for punctuation.
- We saw in the previous section that monotone functions have some nice properties.
Synonyms of monotone
Forms of monotone
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more monotone |
| superlative | most monotone |
| Noun | |
| plural | monotones |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | monotones |
| present participle | monotoning |
| past participle | monotoned |
| past | monotoned |
Origin of monotone
From the post-Classical Latin monotonus (“unvarying in tone”) or its etymon the Ancient Greek μονότονος (monótonos, “steady”, “unwavering”); compare cognate adjectives, namely the French monotone, the German monoton, the Italian monotono, and the Spanish monótono, as well as the slightly earlier English noun monotony and adjective monotonical.
Words formed from monotone
Phrases with monotone
Questions about monotone
- What does monotone mean?
- Monotone means having a single unvaried pitch.
- What is monotone in Tamil?
- Monotone in Tamil is ஒருதொனி, ஒருநிறம், ஓரியல்பு. See Monotone meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is monotone?
- Monotone can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce monotone?
- Monotone is pronounced /ˈmɒn.ə.təʊn/ (UK).
Words near monotone in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: monotone (page history and authors); monotone (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); monotone (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); monotone (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); monotone (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); monotone (Kannada Wiktionary) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-monotone.ogg, En-us-monotone.ogg, en-au-monotone.ogg.
Cite this entry: “monotone.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/monotone. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.