monochrome
Americannoun
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a painting or drawing in different shades of a single color.
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the art or technique of producing such a painting or drawing.
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the state or condition of being painted, decorated, etc., in shades of a single color.
adjective
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being or made in the shades of a single color.
a blue monochrome seascape.
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having the images reproduced in tones of gray.
monochrome television.
noun
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a black-and-white photograph or transparency
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photog black and white
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a painting, drawing, etc, done in a range of tones of a single colour
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the technique or art of this
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(modifier) executed in or resembling monochrome
a monochrome print
adjective
Other Word Forms
- monochromic adjective
- monochromical adjective
- monochromically adverb
- monochromist noun
- monochromy noun
Etymology
Origin of monochrome
From the Medieval Latin word monochrōma, dating back to 1655–65. See mono-, -chrome
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Kyiv was in the depths of a frigid winter so monochrome that the scene on the platform could have been an old newsreel, but it was 2022 and happening in a technicolour, digital age.
From BBC • Feb. 24, 2026
It started with the concept album “A Curious Feeling,” its obsessive autumnal gloom and ornate melodies made even more memorable by the monochrome opacity of the production.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 10, 2026
The enthusiasm also reflects a loss of interest in "workwear" or "quiet luxury", trends that have dominated menswear for years with their simple and often monochrome fabrics.
From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026
Light touches of gold around her head contrast with the deftly controlled monochrome ink washes of the landscape in this virtuosic composition.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 12, 2025
"A monochrome Jackson Pollock," Jane says, and then tells Tiny, "We gotta bolt. This band is like a root canal sans painkiller."
From "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
