monotone

American  

[mon-uh-tohn] / ˈmɒn əˌtoʊn /

noun

1. a vocal utterance or series of speech sounds in one unvaried tone.

2. a single tone without harmony or variation in pitch.

3. recitation or singing of words in such a tone.

4. a person who is unable to discriminate between or to reproduce differences in musical pitch, especially in singing.

5. sameness of tone or color, sometimes to a boring degree.

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adjective

1. monotonous.

2. consisting of or characterized by a uniform tone of one color.

   a monotone drape.

3. Mathematics. monotonic.

monotone British  

/ ˈmɒnəˌtəʊn /

noun

1. a single unvaried pitch level in speech, sound, etc

2. utterance, etc, without change of pitch

3. lack of variety in style, expression. etc

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adjective

1. unvarying or monotonous

2. Also: monotonic.  maths (of a sequence or function) consistently increasing or decreasing in value

Etymology

Origin of monotone

1635–45; < French monotone < Late Greek monótonos monotonous