monotone adj

1 of a sequence or function; consistently increasing and never decreasing or consistently decreasing and never increasing in value [syn: monotonic] [ant: nonmonotonic]

2 sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch; "the owl's faint monotonous hooting" [syn: monotonic, monotonous]

1 an unchanging intonation [syn: drone, droning]

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

English

Etymology

From monotony.

Pronunciation

• i RP /ˈmɒnətəʊn/
• i US /ˈmɑːnətoʊn/

Adjective

1. In the context of "of speech or a sound": having a single unvaried pitch
   • 1799, John Walker, Elements of Elocution, Cooper and Wilson, page 309:

     It is no very difficult matter to be loud in a high tone of voice; but to be loud and forcible in a low tone, requires great practice and management; this, however, may be facilitated by pronouncing forcibly at firſt in a low monotone; a monotone, though in a low key, and without force, is much more ſonorous and audible than when the voice ſlides up and down at almoſt every word, as it muſt do to be various.

   • 1940, Asiatic Society (Calcutta, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, India), Journal of the Asiatic Society, page 95:

     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.

   • 1998, Roger W. Shuy, Bureaucratic Language in Government and Business, Georgetown University Press, Research on Telephone vs. In-Person Administrative Hearings, page 76:

     In the formal register, such variation is reduced and the talk has a more monotone, business-like quality.

Translations

• Italian: monotonale
• Russian: монотонный
• Swedish: monoton

Noun

1. A single unvaried tone of speech or a sound

   When Tina felt like her parents were treating her like a servant, she would speak in monotone and act as though she were a robot.

Derived terms

• monotonic
• monotonous
• monotony

French

Pronunciation

• /mɔnɔtɔn/

Adjective

1. Monotone
2. Whose speech is monotone.
3. Boring due to uniformity or lack of variety; monotonous.

Italian

Adjective

monotone

1. Feminine plural form of monotono

Monotone refers to a sound, for example speech or music, that has a single unvaried tone.

Monotone or monotonicity may also refer to:

• Monotone (common), repetitive and tedious activities
• Monotone (software), an open source revision control system
• Monotone class theorem, in measure theory
• Monotone convergence theorem, in mathematics
• Monotone polygon, in computational geometry
• Monotone preferences, in consumer economics
• Monotonicity criterion, a voting system criterion
• Monotonic function, mathematical concept
• Monotonic orthography, simplified spelling of modern Greek
• Monotonicity of entailment, property of some logical systems
• The Monotones, American rock 'n' roll band (1950s)

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