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• monotype
  monotype

  noun

  the only print made from a metal or glass plate on which a picture is painted in oil color, printing ink, or the like.
• Monotype
  Monotype

  a brand of machine for setting and casting type, consisting of a separate keyboard for producing a paper tape containing holes in a coded pattern so that when this tape is fed into the casting unit each code evokes a unique letter cast from hot metal by a special matrix.

monotype

¹ American  

[mon-uh-tahyp] / ˈmɒn əˌtaɪp /

noun

1. the only print made from a metal or glass plate on which a picture is painted in oil color, printing ink, or the like.

2. the method of producing such a print.

3. Biology. the only type of its group, as a single species constituting a genus.

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Monotype ² American  

[mon-uh-tahyp] / ˈmɒn əˌtaɪp /

Printing, Trademark.

1. a brand of machine for setting and casting type, consisting of a separate keyboard for producing a paper tape containing holes in a coded pattern so that when this tape is fed into the casting unit each code evokes a unique letter cast from hot metal by a special matrix.

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Monotype ¹ British  

/ ˈmɒnəˌtaɪp /

noun

1. any of various typesetting systems, esp originally one in which each character was cast individually from hot metal

2. type produced by such a system

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monotype ² British  

/ ˈmɒnəˌtaɪp /

noun

1. a single print made from a metal or glass plate on which a picture has been painted

2. biology a monotypic genus or species

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Etymology

Origin of monotype

First recorded in 1880–85; mono- + -type

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

monotype Monotype

Commercial air travel as we know it is too entrenched and settling down ever deeper into a sheer monotype: twin-engine airliners, small-to-medium size, geared to worldwide productivity.

From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2019

“From the Heart,” a monotype of a ruddy-colored, long-haired female figure charging across a void, is downright exuberant.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 10, 2017

Among the standouts is a Susan Goldman monotype in which a flowerlike circular form is overlaid with nine squares of bright hues.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 29, 2016

Ms. Schutz’s exhibition, which opened on Thursday evening and runs through May 12, includes a monotype of Brünnhilde on a horse leaping into a funeral pyre.

From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2012

This is especially marked in rapid color-printing, and in the successors of inadequate typesetting-machines—in the linotype, the monotype, the typograph, etc.

From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 08 The Later Renaissance: from Gutenberg to the Reformation by Charles F. (Charles Francis) Horne

The high cost of the books reflects an astonishing input of labor: Monotype casters form letters, numbers and symbols from lead alloy heated to 680 degrees Fahrenheit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

“It’s becoming more and more important,” added Steve Matteson, creative type director at Monotype, a company that creates, licenses and designs fonts for brands.

From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2018

Monotype, an American firm founded in 1887, is the industry’s biggest.

From Economist ● Jun. 26, 2014

By the late 1980s the personal computer had begun to loosen the hold that big European font houses such as Linotype and Monotype had on the market.

From BusinessWeek ● Apr. 8, 2014

The Monotype keyboard, being an entirely separate machine, may be and usually is operated in any place away from the casting apparatus and work may be executed on it anytime before casting.

From Type Typographic Technical Series for Apprentices #1 by A. A. Stewart