monology

English

Etymology

From mono- +‎ -logy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məˈnɒləd͡ʒi/

Noun

monology (countable and uncountable, plural monologies)

1. The act of habit of soliloquizing, or of dominating conversation.
   • 1860, Thomas De Quincey, “Conversation”, in Letters to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected; and Other Papers (De Quincey’s Works; XIV), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 171:

     It was not, therefore, by an insolent usurpation that [Samuel Taylor] Coleridge persisted in monology through his whole life, but in virtue of a concession from the kindness and respect of his friends.

   • 1973, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings:

     Miriam would only speed up in her speech when she 'forgot' the presence of others, when she was, as it were, enveloped in monology.

2. (rare, countable) A work consisting of a single part (as opposed to a dilogy, trilogy, etc.)

References

• “monology”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• nomology