monolingual
adjective
mono·lin·gual
| \ ˌmä-nə-ˈliŋ-gwəl
, ˌmō-, -ˈliŋ-gyə-wəl\
, ˌmō-, -ˈliŋ-gyə-wəl\
Definition of monolingual
: having or using only one language
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Examples of monolingual in a Sentence
He regrets being monolingual and wishes he were bilingual.
Recent Examples on the Web
López spent her last 30 minutes before polls closed helping one voter, a monolingual Spanish speaker, find her polling place. — Jackie Fielder, Teen Vogue, "Gabriela López Just Became the Youngest Elected Official in San Francisco," 11 Jan. 2019 And the saga continues: A new Northwestern University study has found that bilingual and monolingual people listening to the same person speaking can hear two completely different sounds. — Darcel Rockett, chicagotribune.com, "The other Yanny vs. Laurel: How learning a 2nd language alters sensory perception," 25 May 2018 But as officials see it, a monolingual China is more likely to be a strong and unified one. — The Economist, "China is becoming more tolerant of some regional Han languages," 17 May 2018 How can monolingual adults such as myself learn a second language (on their own time, from their own home and ideally with little to no money spent)? — NBC News, "How to learn a new language (in 15-minute a day installments)," 10 May 2018 Often, the United States is seen as monolingual, and that’s not the case at all. — John Timpane, Philly.com, "Meet Philadelphia's new poet laureate, Raquel Salas Rivera: Poet, migrant, bridge-builder," 8 Jan. 2018 Researchers have also found that bilingual children are less impulsive than their monolingual peers. — Ida Lieszkovszky, cleveland.com, "The challenges and rewards of bilingual parenting: Multitasking Moms and Dads," 5 Nov. 2017 Under most scenarios, dual language pupils from the Red Oak and Sherwood areas would attend Red Oak, while monolingual students would attend Sherwood, which is adjacent to Red Oak. — Karen Berkowitz, chicagotribune.com, "Parents speak out as District 112 weighs dual language magnet schools," 12 Sep. 2017 In Searle’s thought experiment, a monolingual English speaker sits alone in a cell. — Gideon Lewis-kraus, New York Times, "The Great A.I. Awakening," 14 Dec. 2016These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'monolingual.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for monolingual
monolingual
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of monolingual
: able to speak and understand only one language
: using or expressed in only one language
See the full definition for monolingual in the English Language Learners Dictionary