monolingual
knowing or able to use only one language; monoglot.
spoken or written in only one language.
a monolingual person.
Origin of monolingual
1Other words from monolingual
- mon·o·lin·gual·ism, noun
Words Nearby monolingual
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use monolingual in a sentence
For any noun you can think of—object, feeling, place—two words exist where a monolingual brain comes up with only one.
The staff is bilingual and the shop is stocked with both Spanish and English titles for both bilingual and monolingual speakers alike.
How a Small Bookstore Created a Big Space for Community, LGBTQ Youth | Roberto Camacho | September 19, 2022 | Voice of San DiegoIn a complementary 2021 study that Sundara coauthored, researchers observed 333 babies from bilingual homes and 384 infants from monolingual houses on four continents.
Baby talk isn’t just cute—it’s critical for kids’ vocabularies | Sarah Witman | October 28, 2021 | Popular-ScienceSo D’Souza and his colleagues applied a similar experiment to 127 adults who were either monolingual and bilingual.
Learning a second language early might have ripple effects throughout your life | Rahul Rao | February 9, 2021 | Popular-ScienceChang stressed that her detention was far worse for her monolingual Korean parents than for herself.
Despite Obama’s Order, Deportation Looms for an Immigrant Dreamer | Allison Yarrow | June 23, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
The time when the intellectual affairs of America could be conducted on a monolingual basis is over.
Instigations | Ezra Pound
British Dictionary definitions for monolingual
/ (ˌmɒnəʊˈlɪŋɡwəl) /
knowing or expressed in only one language
a monolingual person
- Compare bilingual, multilingual
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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