monotone
Americannoun
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a vocal utterance or series of speech sounds in one unvaried tone.
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a single tone without harmony or variation in pitch.
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recitation or singing of words in such a tone.
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a person who is unable to discriminate between or to reproduce differences in musical pitch, especially in singing.
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sameness of tone or color, sometimes to a boring degree.
adjective
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consisting of or characterized by a uniform tone of one color.
a monotone drape.
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Mathematics. monotonic.
noun
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a single unvaried pitch level in speech, sound, etc
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utterance, etc, without change of pitch
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lack of variety in style, expression. etc
adjective
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unvarying or monotonous
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Also: monotonic. maths (of a sequence or function) consistently increasing or decreasing in value
Etymology
Origin of monotone
1635–45; < French monotone < Late Greek monótonos monotonous
Explanation
Monotone is a droning, unchanging tone. Nothing can put you to sleep quite as effectively as a teacher talking in a monotone. The Greek word for "one tone" is monotonia, which is the root for both monotone and the closely-related word monotonous, which means "dull and tedious." A continuous sound, especially someone's voice, that doesn't rise and fall in pitch, is a monotone. When someone speaks in a monotone, his voice is flat and boring — plus listeners don't know how the speaker is feeling when everything sounds the same.
Vocabulary lists containing monotone
"The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe
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Brave New World
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Speech and Debate
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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.
The ghost, on the other hand, who speaks in a creepy monotone, is like a relic of a long defunct amateur troupe.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 25, 2026
“Everyone belongs…” In a low monotone Rustin recited the six principles.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 11, 2025
Sweeney has a tough enough job cut out for her trying to act her way out of a paper-thin script, but this one-note, ridiculously monotone performance does her no favors.
From Salon • Nov. 8, 2025
Ms Hodson wrote: "I asked him about the incident at his admissions meeting and he was monotone, emotionless and very matter of fact about his intentions."
From BBC • Oct. 21, 2025
The chaplain’s voice floated up to him through the distance tenuously in an unintelligible, almost inaudible monotone, like a gaseous murmur.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
