monotone

Etymology

From the post-Classical Latin monotonus (“unvarying in tone”) or its etymon the Ancient Greek μονότονος (monótonos, “steady”, “unwavering”); compare cognate adjectives, namely the French monotone, the German monoton, the Italian monotono, and the Spanish monótono, as well as the slightly earlier English noun monotony and adjective monotonical.

adj

1. (of speech or a sound) Having a single unvaried pitch.
   The prominence of the syllables is more monotone than in English, the intonation of the latter having a larger variation of stressed and unstressed syllables. 1940, Asiatic Society (Calcutta, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, India), Journal of the Asiatic Society, page 95
   In the formal register, such variation is reduced and the talk has a more monotone, business-like quality. 1998, Roger W. Shuy, “Bureaucratic Language in Government and Business”, in Research on Telephone vs. In-Person Administrative Hearings, Georgetown University Press, page 76
2. (mathematics) Being, or having the salient properties of, a monotone function.
   The function f(x):=x³ is monotone on R , while g(x):=x² is not.

noun

1. A single unvaried tone of speech or a sound.
   When Tima felt like her parents were treating her like a servant, she would speak in monotone and act as though she were a robot.
   It is no very difficult matter to be loud in a high tone of voice; but to be loud and forcible in a low tone, requires great practice and management; this, however, may be facilitated by pronouncing forcibly at firſt in a low monotone; a monotone, though in a low key, and without force, is much more ſonorous and audible than when the voice ſlides up and down at almoſt every word, as it muſt do to be various. 1799, John Walker, Elements of Elocution, Cooper and Wilson, page 309
   There is a water-break formed by a small terrace of rock in mid-stream, and purling with a hollow, delicious monotone—an island of pebbles is above, with here and there smaller ones near the "forks." 1846 October, Alfred B[illings] Street, “A Day’s Hunting about the Mongaup”, in George R[ex] Graham, editor, Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art, volume XXIX, number 4, Philadelphia, Pa.: George R. Graham & Co.,[…], →OCLC, page 190
2. A piece of writing in one strain throughout.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To speak in a monotone.