MONOTONE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does monotone mean? 

• MONOTONE (noun)
  The noun MONOTONE has 2 senses:

1. an unchanging intonation

2. a single tone repeated with different words or different rhythms (especially in rendering liturgical texts)

  Familiarity information: MONOTONE used as a noun is rare.

• MONOTONE (adjective)
  The adjective MONOTONE has 2 senses:

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

2. sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch

  Familiarity information: MONOTONE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MONOTONE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An unchanging intonation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

drone; droning; monotone

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

intonation; modulation; pitch contour (rise and fall of the voice pitch)

Derivation:

monotone; monotonic (sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A single tone repeated with different words or different rhythms (especially in rendering liturgical texts)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

musical note; note; tone (a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound)

Derivation:

monotonic (sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch)

• MONOTONE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

monotone; monotonic

Similar:

decreasing monotonic (consistently decreasing)

increasing monotonic (consistently increasing)

Domain category:

math; mathematics; maths (a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch

Synonyms:

flat; monotone; monotonic; monotonous

Context example:

the owl's faint monotonous hooting

Similar:

unmodulated (characterized by lack of variation in pitch, tone, or volume)

Derivation:

monotone (an unchanging intonation)

 Context examples 

When we returned to Mrs. Warren’s rooms, the gloom of a London winter evening had thickened into one grey curtain, a dead monotone of colour, broken only by the sharp yellow squares of the windows and the blurred haloes of the gas-lamps.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)