Meaning & use
monocle
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A single round lens worn in front of one eye, held there by the muscles around it, for correcting poor eyesight.
Grammar: Often linked with old-fashioned or comic characters.
Patterns
- wear a monocle
The colonel screwed a monocle into his eye.
Her grandfather's monocle hung from a chain on his waistcoat.
The cartoon villain always wore a monocle and a top hat.
Word forms
| plural | monocles |
|---|
Common combinations
- wear a monocle
- He wears a monocle to read small print.
- polish a monocle
- The butler stopped to polish his monocle.
- monocle and top hat
- The mascot appears in a monocle and top hat.
- gold-rimmed monocle
- A gold-rimmed monocle glinted in the light.
- drop a monocle
- The earl dropped his monocle in surprise.
Synonyms and how they differ
- eyeglass
- It is an older word, sometimes meaning a single lens like a monocle and sometimes the whole pair.
- lorgnette
- It is a pair of glasses on a handle held up to the face, not worn on the eye.
- spectacles
- It means a pair of glasses worn in front of both eyes.
Word family
Commonly confused: monocle or monocycle?
monocle vs monocycle
A monocycle is a one-wheeled vehicle, not an eyeglass; the word monocle has no -cycle part.
Practice
A gentleman in an old film screws a ______ into one eye so he can read a letter.
Choose one answer.
A monocle is a single lens worn over one eye. Binoculars and telescopes are held up with the hands.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “monocle”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.