interior monologue

American  

noun

1. Literature. a form of stream-of-consciousness writing that represents the inner thoughts of a character.

2. Movies, Television. the device of showing a character on screen who does not appear to speak, although the character's voice is heard on the soundtrack to create the illusion that the audience is hearing the character's thoughts.

---

interior monologue British  

noun

1. a literary attempt to present the mental processes of a character before they are formed into regular patterns of speech or logical sequence See also stream of consciousness

---

Etymology

Origin of interior monologue

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

interior monologue

Quickly editing my interior monologue, as to not admit psychosis: “That’s my dog.”

From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026

The series artfully translates pages and pages of tortured interior monologue in a way that’s deeply compelling onscreen.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2024

Peppered with amusing person-on-the-street commentary, set off in their own smaller frames, this is a woman's interior monologue brought to life as both candid semi-autobiographical memoir and cinematic fantasia.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 5, 2020

The half-rapped “Hollywood,” a dyspeptic interior monologue about riding the bus and staring at posters for bad movies, plays like a snapshot from a now-bygone age of social proximity.

From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2020

The two friends conjectured his mental labor from his concentrated look, and the low exclamations which were escaping him like the echoes of an interior monologue.

From The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Jordan, Charlotte Brewster