| 释义 |
monotony|məˈnɒtənɪ|
[f. late Gr. µονοτονία sameness of tone, monotony, f. µονότονος monotone a. Cf. F. monotonie (1690 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
The quality of being monotonous.
1. Sameness of tone or pitch; want of variety in cadence or inflection; occas. quasi-concr. a monotonous sound, a monotone.
[Cf.1706in sense 2.] 1724Bailey (ed. 2), Monotony, the having but one Tone. [1731Ibid. (vol. II.), Monotonia, the having but one tone; also a want of inflection or variation of voice, or a pronunciation, where a long series of words are delivered with one unvaried tone.] 1748J. Mason Elocut. 19 To avoid a Monotony in Pronunciation, or a dull, set, uniform Tone of Voice. 1749Power Pros. Numbers 15 For though its [sc. the drum's] Sound be only a Monotony, yet [etc.]. 1761Sterne Tr. Shandy IV. xix, It is in vain longer, said my father, in the most querulous monotony imaginable, to struggle as I have done. 1774Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry i. I. 21 Our earliest poets..were fond of multiplying the same final sound to the most tedious monotony. 1818Shelley Stanzas written in Dejection iv, I might..hear the sea Breathe o'er my dying brain its last monotony. 1831W. Godwin Thoughts Man 22 A sheepish..schoolboy, that hung his head, and replied with inarticulated monotony. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt i, The soft monotony of running water. 1896‘H. S. Merriman’ Flotsam ii, The sleepy monotony of the rattling block-sheaves.
2. transf. and fig. Wearisome sameness of effect; tedious recurrence of the same objects, actions, etc.; lack of interesting variety in occupation, scenery, literary style, etc.
1706Pope Let. to Walsh 22 Oct., I could equally object to the Repetition of the same Rhimes within four or six lines of each other, as tiresome to the ear thro' their Monotony. 1783Blair Lect. Rhet. xiii. 261 Monotony is the great fault into which writers are apt to fall, who are fond of harmonious arrangement. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 13 At sea, everything that breaks the monotony of the surrounding expanse, attracts attention. 1831Macaulay Ess., Byron (1807) 158 Never was there such variety in monotony as that of Byron. 1843Borrow Bible in Spain vii. 46 A tower—the only object which broke the monotony of the waste. 1883Gilmour Mongols xxiv. 295 The monotony of prison life. |