monotonic

[ mon-uh-ton-ik ]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or uttered in a monotone:

   a monotonic delivery of a lecture.

2. Mathematics.
   1. (of a function or sequence) either consistently increasing in value and never decreasing, or consistently decreasing in value and never increasing:

      A monotonic sequence can either converge or diverge, but it can never oscillate.

   2. (of an ordered system of sets) consisting of sets such that each set contains the preceding set or such that each set is contained in the preceding set.

Other Words From

• mon·o·ton·i·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of monotonic¹

First recorded in 1790–1800; monotone + -ic

Example Sentences

The researchers found the association to be “nearly monotonic.”

From Seattle Times

If he were to be believed, his wife, three adult kids and their spouses were monotonic mumblers.

From Washington Post

They may speak less and, when they do, adopt a flat, monotonic tone.

From Time

Gupta embeds those monotonic relationships in sprawling databases called interpolated lookup tables.

From Science Magazine

The future will see a monotonic increase in the ambitions that loose-knit groups can achieve.

From The Guardian

More About Monotonic

What does monotonic mean?

Monotonic describes something of, related to, or said in a monotone, as in Minh fell asleep in history because of the professor’s monotonic voice.

When something sounds monotonic, its sound is a single pitch or tone, with changes, harmony, or background tones. Sometimes, parts of a song or speech will be purposely delivered monotonically, but usually something that is monotonic is considered boring.

In mathematics, monotonic describes a function or a portion of a function that is always increasing or decreasing. For example, a parabolic function plotted on a chart will always have a monotonic decreasing portion that decreases to zero, a point at 0,0, and a monotonic increasing portion rising up.

Example: His monotonic speech was so dull it put me to sleep in the first 10 minutes.

Where does monotonic come from?

The first records of the term monotonic come from the late 1700s. It combines the term monotone, meaning “sameness of tone or color,” and the suffix –ic, which forms adjectives from other parts of speech.

In calculus and advanced algebra, a system of numbers is monotonic when each subsequent set of numbers contains the last set or is contained within the last set. Monotonic sequences, similar to functions, will always be increasing or decreasing.

Did you know … ?

What are some other forms related to monotonic?

• monotonically (adverb)

What are some synonyms for monotonic?

• colorless
• dull
• flat

What are some words that share a root or word element with monotonic? 

• monotone
• monotonically

What are some words that often get used in discussing monotonic?

• function
• increasing
• mathematics
• voice

How is monotonic used in real life?

Monotonic is most commonly used to describe someone’s voice or the color of something.

Why are all conspiracy theory videos 3 hour long monotonic commentaries over clip art?

— The Blindboy Podcast (@Rubberbandits) November 23, 2014

I don't know who needs to hear this today, but: progress is neither linear nor monotonic.

— Aditya Mukerjee, the Otterrific 🦦 🏳️‍🌈 (@chimeracoder) March 20, 2021

reminder that epoch time isn't monotonic so adding 30 to it won't always result in a time occurring 30 seconds later

— zachary ✌️ (@zadr) January 6, 2017

 

Try using monotonic!

Is monotonic used correctly in the following sentence?

The function had a monotonic increase and ended up crashing the program.