adj
Meaning 1
Having a single unvaried pitch.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
monotone
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈmɒn.ə.təʊn/
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UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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General-American, dialectal: /ˈmɑ.nə.toʊn/ of Canada
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Canada, dialectal: /ˈmɒn.ə.toʊn/ of the US
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Australian: /ˈmɔn.ə.təʉn/
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Queensland Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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New-Zealand: /ˈmɒn.ə.tɐʉn/
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New-Zealand: [ˈmɔ̟n.ə.tɐʉn]
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CMU ARPABET: M AA1 N AH0 T OW2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Of a function: that is always nonincreasing or nondecreasing on an interval.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: mathematics, sciences
Examples
- The function f(x)#58;#61;x3 is monotone on #92;R, while g(x)#58;#61;x2 is not.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: monotonic
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 3
Synonym of monochrome.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: media, printing, publishing
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: monochrome
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A single unvaried tone of speech or a sound.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Examples
- 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.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A piece of writing in one strain throughout.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To speak in a monotone.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: ambitransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective
Meaning 7
of a sequence or function; consistently increasing and never decreasing or consistently decreasing and never increasing in value
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: monotonic
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 8
sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the owl's faint monotonous hooting
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: flat, monotonic, monotonous
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 9
an unchanging intonation
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: drone, droning
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: intonation, modulation, pitch contour
noun
Meaning 10
a single tone repeated with different words or different rhythms (especially in rendering liturgical texts)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: note, musical note, tone
History
Etymology
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.
Across languages
Translations
24 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: еднозвучен (ednozvučen) — having a single pitch
- Catalan: monòton — having a single pitch
- Czech: jednotvárnost jeho hlasu — having a single pitch
- Esperanto: unutona — having a single pitch
- Finnish: monotoninen — having a single pitch
- German: monoton — having a single pitch
- Italian: monotonale — having a single pitch
- Māori: hātahi — having a single pitch
- Portuguese: monótono — having a single pitch
- Portuguese: monotónico — having a single pitch
- Portuguese: monotônico — having a single pitch
- Romanian: monoton — having a single pitch
- Russian: моното́нный (monotónnyj) — having a single pitch
- Spanish: monótono — having a single pitch
- Swedish: monoton — having a single pitch
- Asturian: monótonu — mathematics: always nonincreasing or nondecreasing
- Catalan: monòton — mathematics: always nonincreasing or nondecreasing
- French: monotone — mathematics: always nonincreasing or nondecreasing
- Galician: monótono — mathematics: always nonincreasing or nondecreasing
- Italian: monotono — mathematics: always nonincreasing or nondecreasing
- Portuguese: monótono — mathematics: always nonincreasing or nondecreasing
- Spanish: monótono — mathematics: always nonincreasing or nondecreasing
- Māori: hātahi — A single tone in speech or sound
- Māori: reo pūkawa — A single tone in speech or sound
Real reading context