14 uses
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Definition
lacking in variety — typically boring
- He was very fond of reciting poetry, his own and that of others, which he did in a monotonous sing-song.25-26 — Chapters 25-26 (59% in)
- The masters, graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, were ordained and unmarried; if by chance they wished to marry they could only do so by accepting one of the smaller livings at the disposal of the Chapter; but for many years none of them had cared to leave the refined society of Tercanbury, which owing to the cavalry depot had a martial as well as an ecclesiastical tone, for the monotony of life in a country rectory; and they were now all men of middle age.15-16 — Chapters 15-16 (14% in)
- XVII Philip passed the next two years with comfortable monotony.17-18 — Chapters 17-18 (0% in)
- There was not a soul for any of them to talk to except small farmers or fishermen; there were long winter evenings when the wind blew, whistling drearily through the leafless trees, and all around they saw nothing but the bare monotony of ploughed fields; and there was poverty, and there was lack of any work that seemed to matter; every kink in their characters had free play; there was nothing to restrain them; they grew nar1 row and eccentric: Philip knew all this, but in his young...19-20 — Chapters 19-20 (98% in)
- Philip went to various places with a clerk named Thompson and spent the day monotonously calling out items of expenditure, which the other checked; and sometimes he was given long pages of figures to add up.37-38 — Chapters 37-38 (47% in)
- When he was reproached with monotony, he answered: "Corot only painted one thing.43-44 — Chapters 43-44 (5% in)
- Philip could not wrench out of his nature the instincts of the middle-class from which he came; and the penury, the hack work which Cronshaw did to keep body and soul together, the monotony of existence between the slovenly attic and the cafe table, jarred with his respectability.49-50 — Chapters 49-50 (93% in)
- Philip thought that Cronshaw was look ing upon his own life; and perhaps he considered his youth with its bright hopes and the disappointments which wore out the radiancy; the wretched monotony of pleasure, and the black future.49-50 — Chapters 49-50 (**% in)
- With large gestures and in the emphatic tone which made what he said so striking, Athelny described to Philip the Spanish cathedrals with their vast dark spaces, the massive gold of the altar-pieces, and the sumptuous iron-work, gilt and faded, the air laden with incense, the silence: Philip almost saw the Canons in their short surplices of lawn, the acolytes in red, passing from the sacristy to the choir; he almost heard the monotonous chanting of vespers.87-88 — Chapters 87-88 (63% in)
- Mildred accepted the monotony of her life.93-94 — Chapters 93-94 (10% in)
- The work was monotonous and very tiring.103-104 — Chapters 103-104 (52% in)
- As he fastened them with little pieces of stamppaper he whistled monotonously.103-104 — Chapters 103-104 (56% in)
- It was the solace of his life (and when he grew used to it, the monotony of it was what chiefly appalled him) that he could go every Sunday to that friendly house.105-106 — Chapters 105-106 (14% in)
- He was set upon one thing indomitably and that was living, just living, notwithstanding the monotony of his life and the constant pain which allowed him to sleep only when he was under the influence of morphia.109-110 — Chapters 109-110 (66% in)
There are no more uses of "monotonous" in Of Human Bondage.
Typical Usage
(best examples)