monolingualism
Americannoun
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the state or condition of being monolingual.
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a policy or approach that promotes the use of only one language.
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.
The American turn to monolingualism did not occur until after the Civil War, when new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe began to arrive in large numbers: Italians, Poles, Greeks and Ashkenazi Jews.
From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2026
Dear Miss Manners: I live in a city in which a wide variety of languages are spoken, though I, to my shame and regret, seem genetically predisposed to monolingualism.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 18, 2023
I mean, the famous linguistic research by Joshua Fishman showed a three-generation conversion to English monolingualism.
From Slate ● Jul. 25, 2019
This is something that’s often assumed reflexively by those of us who live most of our lives in English, but historically speaking, monolingualism is something of an aberration.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 27, 2018
It was one of those American innovations, like Nascar or monolingualism, that failed to sweep the globe.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 18, 2016
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.
