Definition of MONOTONE

monotone

Plural: monotones

Noun

  • A vocal utterance or sound that is unvaried in pitch.
  • an unchanging intonation
  • a single tone repeated with different words or different rhythms (especially in rendering liturgical texts)
  • A single unvaried tone of speech or a sound.
  • A piece of writing in one strain throughout.

Adjective

  • of a sequence or function; consistently increasing and never decreasing or consistently decreasing and never increasing in value

Adjective Satellite

  • sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch

Adj

  • Having a single unvaried pitch.
  • Of a function: that is always nonincreasing or nondecreasing on an interval.
  • Synonym of monochrome.

Verb

  • To speak in a monotone.

Examples

  • His explanation of his Scrabble strategy was a ’MONOTONE’, dulling the excitement.
  • The function f(x)#58;#61;x³ is monotone on #92;R, while g(x)#58;#61;x² is not.
  • 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.

Origin / 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.

Antonyms

nonmonotonic

Scrabble Score: 10

monotone: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
monotone: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
monotone: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 13

monotone: valid Words With Friends Word