MONOSYLLABLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does monosyllable mean? 

• MONOSYLLABLE (noun)
  The noun MONOSYLLABLE has 1 sense:

1. a word or utterance of one syllable

  Familiarity information: MONOSYLLABLE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MONOSYLLABLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A word or utterance of one syllable

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

monosyllabic word; monosyllable

Hypernyms ("monosyllable" is a kind of...):

word (a unit of language that native speakers can identify)

Derivation:

monosyllabic (having or characterized by or consisting of one syllable)

 Context examples 

Now and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the conversation soon flagged.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She found it difficult to obtain even a word from her beyond a monosyllable.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

"Isn't 'thou' a little sentimental?" asked Jo, privately thinking it a lovely monosyllable.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Never had he been at such an altitude of living, and he kept himself in the background, listening, observing, and pleasuring, replying in reticent monosyllables, saying, Yes, miss, and No, miss, to her, and Yes, ma'am, and No, ma'am, to her mother.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly fell from her hand.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In her anxiety to keep her voice quite calm, Jo made it rather cool, and the frosty little monosyllable at the end seemed to chill the Professor, for his smile vanished, as he said gravely...

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)