monosyllable
- noun
- /ˌmɒnəˈsɪləbəl/
- When we spoke, she avoided direct eye contact and answered my questions with vague monosyllables.
- answer in monosyllables
- respond in monosyllables
- reply in monosyllables
He says in this flat commonplace monosyllable has contained the wisdom, the vice height of the government.
- He says in this flat commonplace monosyllable has contained the wisdom, the vice height of the government.
Examples
-
Steve's final words, hours earlier, were monosyllables, repeated three times.
Blog text (14) -
The next morning, his parents would only talk to one another in monosyllables, and his father took the car into New Milford to have breakfast there.
Fiction book (1997) -
I had now begun to answer in monosyllables.
Fiction book (1994) -
I talk to Curtis about it, and all I get is monosyllables.
-
I respond in gruff monosyllables, hardly recognizing my own voice.
Fiction book (1997) -
The Telek replied in curt monosyllables, and the trucker became progressively more furious.
Fiction book (1992) -
"You're an escapist," he said, and when she answered in cold monosyllables, he said she was imitating Catherine Deneuve.
Fiction book (1993) -
"Monosyllables of wisdom," Patrick cruelly and wittily described their minister's sweetly simple sermons.
Fiction book (1997) -
In the meeting, he only responded with monosyllables, making it hard to gauge his feelings.
-
During the interview, she answered all the questions in monosyllables, which made her seem uninterested.
Synonyms
A word that has only one syllable
Antonyms
How Long
- Literature
- Literature
- Literature
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word monosyllable comes from two parts: mono- meaning 'one' and syllable meaning 'a sound part of a word'. So a monosyllable is a word made of just one sound part, like 'yes'.