as in concise
marked by the use of few words to convey much information or meaning
the sullen teenager would give only a monosyllabic response to even the friendliest question
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Recent Examples of monosyllabic
Rick likens his son’s interactions with the media to those of Bill Belichick, the legendary football coach and master of the monosyllabic press conference.
—
Tom Kludt, Vanity Fair, 17 Feb. 2026
Borges tells us that in Tlön’s Ursprache there are no nouns; instead, there are impersonal verbs, modified by monosyllabic prefixes with an adverbial value.
—Literary Hub, 29 Sep. 2025
The Chinese language, unlike alphabetic languages, uses more brain regions due to its monosyllabic, tonal, and logographic nature, which makes understanding brain signals more complex.
—Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 5 Jan. 2025
Eva, a monosyllabic Finn about my age who dressed in head-to-toe black, seemed uninterested in most of what was happening around her, including me.
—Hazlitt, 3 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for monosyllabic
Tom Kludt, Vanity Fair, 17 Feb. 2026
Borges tells us that in Tlön’s Ursprache there are no nouns; instead, there are impersonal verbs, modified by monosyllabic prefixes with an adverbial value.
—Literary Hub, 29 Sep. 2025
The Chinese language, unlike alphabetic languages, uses more brain regions due to its monosyllabic, tonal, and logographic nature, which makes understanding brain signals more complex.
—Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 5 Jan. 2025
Eva, a monosyllabic Finn about my age who dressed in head-to-toe black, seemed uninterested in most of what was happening around her, including me.
—Hazlitt, 3 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for monosyllabic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for monosyllabic
Adjective
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Third, the tool helps design a concise, high-value one-page lead magnet to effectively capture email addresses.—
Jodie Cook,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2026
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Get concise answers to your questions.—
Dan Lamothe,
Washington Post,
26 May 2026
Adjective
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After a brief trip to the locker room, Brunson quickly returned to the bench and eventually re-entered the game.—
Alejandro Avila,
FOXNews.com,
4 June 2026
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The fact that no player had posted a tribute to the outgoing coach had raised some eyebrows until Van Dijk posted his own brief missive on social media.—
Simon Hughes,
New York Times,
3 June 2026
Adjective
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The judge considered hundreds of pages of evidence and testimony from San Diego officials, homeowners and their lawyers and determined that the city had not met the burden for what is called summary adjudication in any of the five causes of actions.—
Jeff McDonald,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
9 Apr. 2026
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Such rights obviously do not include summary execution at sea.—
Mary Ellen O'Connell,
The Conversation,
4 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Monosyllabic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/monosyllabic. Accessed 6 Jun. 2026.
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