What does "monatomic" mean?

Of an element, consisting of a single atom in the molecule, for example, the noble gases. Note: Strictly speaking, a molecule has at least two atoms.

What is a synonym for "monatomic"?

Common synonyms include: atomic, cyclic, cyclical, monoatomic, subatomic, triatomic.

adj

adj ·4 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Adjective

1
Of an element, consisting of a single atom in the molecule, for example, the noble gases. Note: Strictly speaking, a molecule has at least two atoms. not-comparable

Adjective

From mon- + atomic.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.