adjective
-
dull and tedious, esp because of repetition
-
unvarying in pitch or cadence
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of monotonous
From the Late Greek word monótonos, dating back to 1770–80. See mono-, tone, -ous
Explanation
When something goes on and on and on and on and on, the same way, for a long time, that's monotonous. Monotonous things are boring and repetitive, like that long story you've heard your brother tell a hundred times before. Ever hear a song that just sounds like the same thing over and over? Ever hear a dog that keeps barking all day? Or a voice that's dull and unchanging in tone? All those things are monotonous: they don't change much, and they're dull as dishwater. Anything tedious or humdrum is probably monotonous. If someone says you're being monotonous, try to vary your tone of voice or the things you're talking about.
Vocabulary lists containing monotonous
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Of Mice and Men
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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 film is so committed to its rigors — the two-person cast, the glacial camera pivots, the moody lighting — that it teeters on the line of becoming monotonous.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2026
The pop star’s first solo album in nearly a decade is a slick, highly professional affair that suffers from a surplus of monotonous, surface-level balladry.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 3, 2026
Much of Mr. Roberts’s movement for that quartet of dancers, despite some upper-body torsioning and unison pacings, presents repeated articulations for their arms, suggesting the flapping of wings, which grows monotonous.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 13, 2025
It can get a little bit monotonous and a little bit tedious.
From BBC • Sep. 9, 2025
He remained convinced that romantic behavior was basically monotonous and predictable, and that therefore one could write a fairly straightforward formula that would predict the collision course of any two people.
From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green
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.
