monologue meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

monologue

noun

UK /ˈmɒnəlɒɡ/ · US /ˈmɑnəˌlɔɡ/

Etymology First attested in c. 1550. Borrowed from Middle French monologue, modeled on dialogue, ultimately from Byzantine Greek μονόλογος (monólogos). By surface analysis, mono- + -logue.

Authorship, Broadcasting, Communications, Drama, Dramaturgy, Entertainment, Film, Journalism, Lifestyle, Literature, Media, Publishing, Television, Theater, Writing A long speech by one person in a play; sometimes a soliloquy; other times spoken to other characters.

Comedy, Entertainment, Lifestyle A long series of comic stories and jokes as an entertainment.

A long, uninterrupted utterance that monopolizes a conversation.

Derived terms: internal monologue, interior monologue, monologic, monological, monologically, monologual, monologuist, monologuize, pianologue, travelogue

monologue

verb

Etymology First attested in c. 1550. Borrowed from Middle French monologue, modeled on dialogue, ultimately from Byzantine Greek μονόλογος (monólogos). By surface analysis, mono- + -logue.

To deliver a monologue.

Powerful parents, in her formulation, feeling themselves autonomous and powerful, give autonomy and power to their children; powerless ones, feeling themselves passive and controlled, in turn exert an excessive control on their children, and monologue at them, instead of having a dialogue with them.1989, Oliver Sacks, Seeing Voices: