monotone

[ mon-uh-tohn ]

noun

1. a vocal utterance or series of speech sounds in one unvaried tone.
2. a single tone without harmony or variation in pitch.
3. recitation or singing of words in such a tone.
4. a person who is unable to discriminate between or to reproduce differences in musical pitch, especially in singing.
5. sameness of tone or color, sometimes to a boring degree.

adjective

1. monotonous.
2. consisting of or characterized by a uniform tone of one color: Compare monochromatic ( defs 1, 2 ).

   a monotone drape.

3. Mathematics. monotonic ( def 2 ).

monotone

/ ˈmɒnəˌtəʊn /

noun

1. a single unvaried pitch level in speech, sound, etc
2. utterance, etc, without change of pitch
3. lack of variety in style, expression. etc

adjective

1. unvarying or monotonous
2. Alsomonotonicˌmɒnəˈtɒnɪk maths (of a sequence or function) consistently increasing or decreasing in value

Word History and Origins

Origin of monotone¹

1635–45; < French monotone < Late Greek monótonos monotonous

Example Sentences

It features a monotone camera bump, similar to the recently released Samsung S21 FE.

From Popular-Science

Both were narrated by a man in a monotone, with the actors barely audible in the background.

From Washington Post

He describes a public defender as having “grainy eyes,” as if he had “been up all night” — a lawyer who “sighs massively, impatiently” and “speaks in a monotone” in response to Adams’s questions.

From Washington Post

The new voice TikTok has now added is more upbeat, which doesn’t work as well in some videos where the point was to use a monotone.

From TechCrunch

We work virtually together often, and his WFH situation is in a room far away from his WiFi source, which means I spend a lot of time staring at his frozen face while repeating his name in monotone during important conversations.

From Outside Online

The computer graphics are monotone overlaid in Lucky Charms leprechaun green.

From The Daily Beast

“And to see great fashion,” he added half-heartedly, in monotone and with no punctuation.

From The Daily Beast

Not too long ago, the market hybrid cars seemed similarly monotone.

From The Daily Beast

Hours passed by and the judge read his charges in a monotone.

From The Daily Beast

His soft, calm monotone never fluctuates, adding an extra creepy factor.

From The Daily Beast

He spoke in a wheezy, solemn monotone, from which all elements of life and joy seemed to have been eliminated.

From Project Gutenberg

Gradually the muffled beat of hoofs grew more pronounced, a shuffling monotone that filled the night.

From Project Gutenberg

One day, feverish and excited, he played on in monotone almost listless.

From Project Gutenberg

"We did gey well," he resumed in his even monotone, like a man who was repeating something he had learned by heart.

From Project Gutenberg

He stood amid that silence, hearing only a faint whisper from the river, a far-off monotone from the falls beyond the chute.

From Project Gutenberg