monitorial

[ mon-i-tawr-ee-uhl, -tohr- ]

adjective

1. of or relating to a monitor.
2. monitory.

Other Words From

• moni·tori·al·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of monitorial¹

First recorded in 1715–25; monitory + -al ¹

Example Sentences

Schudson contends that monitorial citizens might even be “better informed than citizens of the past in that, somewhere in their heads, they have more bits of information.”

From The New Yorker

Far more people will be monitorial, rather than informed, citizens––and, thanks to social media and high-volume news operations, they will be easily alarmed and distracted.

From The New Yorker

Schudson proposes a model for citizenship that he believes to be more true to life: the “monitorial citizen”—a person who is watchful of what’s going on in politics but isn’t always fully engaged.

From The New Yorker

“The monitorial citizen engages in environmental surveillance more than information-gathering,” he writes.

From The New Yorker

In theory, the social-media age could make us better monitorial citizens.

From The New Yorker

Related Words

• ominous