monotone

EnglishEdit

WOTD – 12 September 2007

EtymologyEdit

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.

PronunciationEdit

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒn.ə.təʊn/
- Audio (UK) (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑː.nə.toʊn/
- Audio (US) (file)
Audio (AU) (file)

AdjectiveEdit

monotone (comparative more monotone, superlative most monotone)

(of speech or a sound) Having a single unvaried pitch.
- 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”, in Research on Telephone vs. In-Person Administrative Hearings, Georgetown University Press, page 76:
  In the formal register, such variation is reduced and the talk has a more monotone, business-like quality.
(mathematics) Being, or having the salient properties of, a monotone function.
The function $f(x):=x^{3}$ is monotone on $\mathbb {R}$ , while $g(x):=x^{2}$ is not.

Derived termsEdit

pseudomonotone

TranslationsEdit

having a single pitch

Bulgarian: еднозвучен (ednozvučen)
Catalan: monòton
Czech: jednotvárnost jeho hlasu
Finnish: monotoninen (fi)
German: monton
Italian: monotonale
Maori: hātahi
Portuguese: monótono (pt), monotónico (Portugal), monotônico (Brazil)
Romanian: monoton (ro)
Russian: моното́нный (ru) (monotónnyj)
Spanish: monótono (es)
Swedish: monoton (sv)

NounEdit

monotone (countable and uncountable, plural monotones)

A single unvaried tone of speech or a sound.
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.
- 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.
- 1846 October, Alfred B[illings] Street, “A Day’s Hunting about the Mongaup”, in George R[ex] Graham, editor, Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art, volume XXIX, number 4, Philadelphia, Pa.: George R. Graham & Co., […], →OCLC, page 190:
  There is a water-break formed by a small terrace of rock in mid-stream, and purling with a hollow, delicious monotone—an island of pebbles is above, with here and there smaller ones near the "forks."
A piece of writing in one strain throughout.

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

A single tone in speech or sound

Maori: hātahi, reo pūkawa

VerbEdit

monotone (third-person singular simple present monotones, present participle monotoning, simple past and past participle monotoned)