- 1單調的聲調；毫無起伏的語調
A monotone is a sound that stays on the same note: it does not rise or fall, and it does not grow louder or softer, so it often feels dull. When someone speaks or sings in a monotone, the voice is flat, and listeners may think the person is bored, nervous, or just reading words with no feeling. Teachers say “Don’t read in a monotone” when they want expression. You can use it as a noun (speak in a monotone) or as an adjective (a monotone voice). People stretch it to any drone — a fan, a machine, rain on a roof. There is also a later maths sense (a line that only goes one way), but the voice sense is the one you meet in ordinary English.
組成From post-Classical Latin monotonus (“unvarying in tone”), from Ancient Greek μονότονος (monótonos, “steady, unwavering”). Sister adjectives in French (monotone), German (monoton), Italian (monotono), and Spanish (monótono) come the same way. The English noun monotony is a little older.
同家族的字
- monotonythe noun for boring sameness; a little older in English
- monotonousthe adjective: boring because it never changes
- tonethe second half: a musical note, or the sound of a voice
原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
monotoneadj/ˈmɒn.ə.təʊn/
- 1
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.
- In the formal register, such variation is reduced and the talk has a more monotone, business-like quality.
- 2
mathematicssciencesOf a function: that is always nonincreasing or nondecreasing on an interval.
- The function f(x)#58;#61;x³ is monotone on #92;R, while g(x)#58;#61;x² is not.
- 3
mediaprintingpublishingSynonym of monochrome.
monotonenoun/ˈmɒn.ə.təʊn/
- 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.
- 2
A piece of writing in one strain throughout.
monotoneverb/ˈmɒn.ə.təʊn/
- 1
To speak in a monotone.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。