monotone
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a way of talking where your voice stays at the same pitch and does not go up or down.
n.a vocal delivery or sound characterised by a single, unvaried pitch and a lack of expressive inflection.
Simple“The teacher spoke in a boring monotone that made it hard to stay awake.”
In context“The narrator delivered the entire documentary in a flat monotone, which unfortunately drained the dramatic historical events of their emotional impact.”
SynonymsdroningflatnessAntonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
adj.having only one sound or tone that does not change.
adj.consisting of or uttered in a single unvaried tone.
Simple“The robot had a monotone voice that sounded very unnatural.”
In context“His monotone recitation of the poem suggested he had memorised the words without understanding their underlying sentiment.”
SynonymstonelessunvaryingAntonyms - 03 C1 Advanced
adj.describes a line or function that only goes up or only goes down, never both.
adj.describing a function or sequence that is either entirely non-increasing or entirely non-decreasing over a given interval.
Simple“The graph shows a monotone increase in temperature over the last hour.”
In context“The researcher proved that the sequence was monotone and bounded, which was sufficient to demonstrate its convergence.”
UsageIn technical contexts, 'monotonic' is often preferred over 'monotone' as the adjective form.
SynonymsmonotonicAntonymsnon monotonic - 04 C2 Proficiency
v.to talk in a way that does not change your voice level.
v.to utter or speak in an unvarying tone lacking modulation.
Simple“He tended to monotone when he was reading long lists of numbers.”
In context“The witness began to monotone as the questioning dragged into its fourth hour, showing signs of extreme exhaustion.”
UsageThis verb is less common than the noun or adjective forms and is often used intransitively.
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 adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.