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monotonous

Adjective
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Dull, uniform, and repetitive without variation in tone or cadence; used to describe tedious labor or flat landscapes in verse.

Detailed Definition
Monotonous can describe something that lacks variety or relief. In this poem it refers to the moon’s repeated cycle, giving the sense of endless sameness in the heavens.
Example
Example in poetry:
“One round monotonous of change” uses monotonous for repetitive and lacking variety; Tennyson’s “Mariana” creates monotony through recurring refrains and stagnant domestic images; “The monotonous rain rehearsed one note all night” lets sound enact the adjective; In poetry, deliberate monotony may convey boredom, confinement, grief, or mechanical labor
Additional Notes
The phrase "One round monotonous of change" uses monotonous in a literary way that may be less familiar to students than its basic modern meaning.; Found in the poem, De Profundis by Christina Rossetti
Also Known As
tedious repetitive droning
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