noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of monorail
Explanation
A monorail is similar to a train, but instead of traveling on two tracks, it uses just one. If you visit Tokyo or Disney World, you'll probably travel on a monorail. Most monorails are elevated, with trains either moving above a single track or dangling from it, suspended by a wide rail. They generally run on electricity, which flows through the track and keeps the train moving. The earliest monorails were designed in the late 1800s, and this is also when the word developed, from mono, "one" in Greek, and rail, from the Latin regula, "straight stick."
Vocabulary lists containing monorail
mon, mono (one)
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Roots: mono
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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.
See Examples For:
“I don’t think there’s any other option but to move forward with the project,” said Daisuke Hasegawa, a 23-year-old monorail driver in Naha, Okinawa’s capital, referring to the Futenma relocation plan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Lyster said the possibility of expanding the Disneyland monorail has not come up in “recent discussions,” since the newer options might turn out to be environmentally friendlier and less costly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2025
Meanwhile, chaos erupted on Tuesday after a monorail system, which was reportedly full far beyond its capacity, halted mid-track.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2025
Theme park operator Flamingo Land believed it would be given the go-ahead to build a £40m resort called Lomond Banks, featuring a waterpark, monorail, hotel and restaurants.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2025
Lenina, meanw hile, had turned her eyes away and was looking perpendicularly downwards at the monorail station.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Gurr’s defining Disney creations — the sci-fi-inspired monorails of Disneyland and Walt Disney World, the first implementation of a tubular steel coaster in the Matterhorn — are just a small fraction of his résumé.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2025
Before entrepreneurs in Seattle won fame selling computer software or takeout coffee across the globe, the city’s vision of Century 21 soared on monorails.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2022
Most U.S. monorails run in short loops around amusement parks or between airport terminals.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 3, 2021
Done wrong, High Lines could become the latest in a long list of urban design failures, such as downtown shopping malls, underground passages, skyways – and monorails.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 15, 2017
The streets were narrow and filled with monorails; pedestrians pursued their courses upon walks attached to the walls of the buildings, far above the level of the streets.
From Spacehounds of IPC by E. E. (Edward Elmer) Smith
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.
