monotype

[ mon-uh-tahyp ]

/ ˈmɒn əˌtaɪp /

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noun

the only print made from a metal or glass plate on which a picture is painted in oil color, printing ink, or the like.

the method of producing such a print.

Biology. the only type of its group, as a single species constituting a genus.

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Origin of monotype

First recorded in 1880–85; mono- + -type

Words nearby monotype

monotreme, monotrichate, monotrichous, monotriglyph, monotropy, monotype, monotypic, monounsaturate, monounsaturated, monovalent, monovision

Other definitions for monotype (2 of 2)

Monotype

[ mon-uh-tahyp ]

/ ˈmɒn əˌtaɪp /

Printing, Trademark.

a brand of machine for setting and casting type, consisting of a separate keyboard for producing a paper tape containing holes in a coded pattern so that when this tape is fed into the casting unit each code evokes a unique letter cast from hot metal by a special matrix.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use monotype in a sentence

You go back to the Monotype room and get a bunch of slugs and leads and saw them up to fill the cases.
Nine Men in Time|Noel Miller Loomis
It will be seen, therefore, that the casting portion of the monotype machine is actually automatic.
The Building of a Book|Various
Now, the genus Zea is not only a monotype, but stands almost alone in its family.
Origin of Cultivated Plants|Alphonse De Candolle
Two distinctive styles of these machines are now extensively used—the Linotype and the Monotype.
Type|A. A. Stewart

The reason why the machine is called a monotype is that the letters are made one at a time, and monos is the Greek word for one.
Makers of Many Things|Eva March Tappan

British Dictionary definitions for monotype (1 of 2)

monotype

/ (ˈmɒnəˌtaɪp) /

noun

a single print made from a metal or glass plate on which a picture has been painted

biology a monotypic genus or species

British Dictionary definitions for monotype (2 of 2)

Monotype

/ (ˈmɒnəˌtaɪp) /

noun

trademark any of various typesetting systems, esp originally one in which each character was cast individually from hot metal

type produced by such a system

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012