Meaning & use
monologue
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Meanings
nouncountable
A long speech made by one person while others listen, especially in a play or film.
Grammar: Countable: a monologue, two monologues; the person speaking delivers or performs it.
Patterns
- deliver a monologue
- a monologue about something
- open with a monologue
The play opens with a monologue in which the old soldier recalls the war.
She delivered a ten-minute monologue about her childhood in the countryside.
His monologue in the final scene is the emotional high point of the film.
nouncountabledisapproving
A long speech by one person in a conversation, so that nobody else gets a chance to speak.
Grammar: Often disapproving in this sense; you can say someone 'launches into a monologue'.
Patterns
- launch into a monologue
- a long monologue about something
I asked how his trip was, and he launched into a forty-minute monologue.
Dinner with my uncle usually turns into a monologue about politics.
She barely paused for breath during her monologue on modern art.
nouncountablespecialist
A short comic or dramatic speech performed alone by an actor as an audition piece.
Grammar: Common in drama schools; you 'prepare' or 'perform' a monologue for an audition.
Patterns
- prepare a monologue
- audition with a monologue
- a comic monologue
For the audition we each had to prepare a two-minute monologue.
He chose a comic monologue from a modern play.
Students perform a monologue in front of the class each term.
Word forms
| plural | monologues |
|---|
Common combinations
- deliver a monologue
- The actor delivered a monologue that silenced the whole audience.
- a dramatic monologue
- The poem is written as a dramatic monologue by a jealous duke.
- launch into a monologue
- He launched into a monologue before anyone could reply.
- an opening monologue
- The host's opening monologue poked fun at the week's news.
- a monologue about something
- She gave a funny monologue about learning to drive.
Synonyms and how they differ
- speech
- A speech is usually prepared and given to an audience; a monologue is more often one voice within a play or a one-sided stretch of talk.
- soliloquy
- A soliloquy is specifically a speech in which a character reveals private thoughts, usually alone on stage; a monologue may be addressed to other characters.
- rant
- A rant is an angry, uncontrolled monologue; a monologue can be calm, comic or sad.
Opposites
Word family
- monologist noun
- A performer who specializes in monologues.
- monologuist noun
- Another spelling of monologist, common in American English.
Commonly confused: monologue or soliloquy? monologue or dialogue?
monologue vs soliloquy
A soliloquy is spoken alone on stage and shows a character's inner thoughts; a monologue may be heard by other characters and can simply be a long speech.
monologue vs dialogue
Dialogue is talk between two or more people; a monologue is one person speaking at length.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'monologue' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A monologue is a long speech by one person, so 'gave a short monologue' fits. Option An is wrong because two people exchanging words is dialogue, not a monologue. Option C uses a rare verb form awkwardly for a phone call, and option D is impossible because a monologue belongs to one speaker.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “monologue”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.