monograph
Americannoun
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a treatise on a particular subject, as a biographical study or study of the works of one artist.
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a highly detailed and thoroughly documented study or paper written about a limited area of a subject or field of inquiry.
scholarly monographs on medieval pigments.
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an account of a single thing or class of things, as of a species of organism.
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of monograph
Explanation
A scholar who is fascinated with a subject and knows a lot about it might write a monograph, or a long, detailed paper on one topic. If your favorite subject in school is the study of insects, you may one day write a monograph on entomology, full of details about beetles and wasps. A monograph is usually researched carefully, with plenty of footnotes along the way. The thesis or dissertation a college student writes as a requirement for getting a degree is one type of monograph. The word comes from the Greek mono, "single," and graph, "something written."
Vocabulary lists containing monograph
Write On!: Graph and Gram
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The Namesake
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The Big Thirst
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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.
Because those peptides aren’t components of an approved drug and don’t carry a USP monograph, compounders weren’t allowed to dispense them anyway.
From Salon • Apr. 4, 2026
The expedition that led to this discovery began with a brief note in a 1950s monograph.
From Science Daily • Feb. 23, 2026
She finds herself in good company: Soutine’s friend Faure suggested in his 1929 monograph on the artist that his work contained “the spark of God.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 5, 2025
Among other changes in the final monograph published this summer, the program removed references to a “neurodevelopmental hazard to humans.”
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 2024
He had a monograph with him, published by the German Association of Prison Officials.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
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.
