Monotone

//ˈmɒn.ə.təʊn// adj, noun, verb

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    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."

  2. 2
    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."

  3. 3
    Synonym of monochrome.
Adjective
  1. 1
    sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch wordnet
  2. 2
    of a sequence or function; consistently increasing and never decreasing or consistently decreasing and never increasing in value wordnet
Noun
  1. 1
    A single unvaried tone of speech or a sound. countable, uncountable

    "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."

  2. 2
    an unchanging intonation wordnet
  3. 3
    A piece of writing in one strain throughout. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    a single tone repeated with different words or different rhythms (especially in rendering liturgical texts) wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To speak in a monotone. ambitransitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

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.

Etymology 3

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.

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