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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List 3
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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.
I, meanwhile, am earning a fortune from a business I despise, Baby Monotonous, that makes dolls that look and speak like real people.
From The Guardian • May 13, 2013
Monotonous languor seems almost the key to an uncanny series of decisions and events that shackled German strength on Dday.
From Time Magazine Archive
Monotonous, ugly and self-concerned, their verbal mating dance is devoid of tenderness or desire.
From Time Magazine Archive
From a stint at the Village Vanguard, she was cast in the Leonard Sillman revue New Faces of 1952 and given one of her signature songs, the bored-with-love "Monotonous."
From Time Magazine Archive
Monotonous to the extreme, DNA seemed to be quite the opposite of Schrödinger’s imagined chemical—not just a stupid molecule but worse: a boring one.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
