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Humdrum vs Monotone - What's the difference?

humdrum | monotone |

As adjectives the difference between humdrum and monotone

is that humdrum is lacking variety or excitement; dull; boring while monotone is (of speech or a sound) having a single unvaried pitch.

As nouns the difference between humdrum and monotone

is that humdrum is the quality of lacking variety or excitement; dullness while monotone is a single unvaried tone of speech or a sound.

As a verb monotone is

(ambitransitive) to speak in a monotone.

humdrum

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Lacking variety or excitement; dull; boring.

    • Noun

    (-)
  • The quality of lacking variety or excitement; dullness.
  • * 2010 ,
    • I think it helped distract us from the dry, humdrum , and heat of the here and now.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    monotone

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (of speech or a sound) having a single unvaried pitch
  • * 1940 , Asiatic Society (Calcutta, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, India), Journal of the Asiatic Society , page 95:
    • The prominence of the syllables is more monotone than in English, the intonation of the latter having a larger variation of stressed and unstressed syllables.
  • * 1998 , Roger W. Shuy, Bureaucratic Language in Government and Business'', Georgetown University Press, ''Research on Telephone vs. In-Person Administrative Hearings , page 76:
    • In the formal register, such variation is reduced and the talk has a more monotone , business-like quality.
  • (mathematics) property of a function to be either always decreasing or always increasing
  • * The function f(x):=x^3 is monotone while g(x):=x^2 is not.

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • A single unvaried tone of speech or a sound
    • When Tima felt like her parents were treating her like a servant, she would speak in monotone and act as though she were a robot.
  • * 1799 , John Walker, Elements of Elocution , Cooper and Wilson, page 309:
    • It is no very difficult matter to be loud in a high tone of voice; but to be loud and forcible in a low tone, requires great practice and management; this, however, may be facilitated by pronouncing forcibly at fir?t in a low monotone'; a ' monotone , though in a low key, and without force, is much more ?onorous and audible than when the voice ?lides up and down at almo?t every word, as it mu?t do to be various.

    Derived terms

    * monotonic * monotonous * monotony

    Verb

    (monoton)
  • (ambitransitive) To speak in a monotone.
    • ----