Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Chemistry Having only one form, as one crystal form.
  • adjective Biology Having or existing in only one form, as having only one allele of a gene or having males and females that look alike.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In zoology, of one and the same (or essentially similar) type of structure; formed much alike; notably uniform in morphic character: said of a number of animals collectively, or of the zoölogical group which they constitute: as, birds are a highly monomorphic class of animals.
  • In entomology, having but one form, structure, or morphological character; identical or invariable in form throughout successive stages of development; monomorphous; homomorphous; ametabolic.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Biol.) Having but a single form; retaining the same form throughout the various stages of development; of the same or of an essentially similar type of structure; -- opposed to dimorphic, trimorphic, and polymorphic.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective having or existing in a single shape or form
  • adjective genetics, of a gene invariant across a species
  • adjective programming, of a function taking only a single data type

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

mono- (“one”) + -morphic (“of a form”)

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Examples

  • Male and female penguins are very similar in appearance and can be impossible to distinguish without behavioral cues (referred to as monomorphic).

    Penguins 2010

  • Male and female penguins are very similar in appearance and can be impossible to distinguish without behavioral cues (referred to as monomorphic).

    Featured Articles - Encyclopedia of Earth 2010

  • Auks are sexually monomorphic, meaning that males and females look the same.

    Alcids in marine ecosystems 2009

  • These birds are monomorphic, which means that males and females look the same to human eyes, anyway.

    Mystery bird: rufous-tailed weaver, Histurgops ruficaudus 2011

  • Nikon D300, 600 mm lens, ISO 800, f/9, 1/640 sec Question: This non-migratory monomorphic mystery bird, which is endemic to the highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea, is a member of a family of birds that are exclusive to the Old World.

    Mystery bird: Ethiopian cisticola, Cisticola lugubris 2011

  • The procedure allows the staff to determine the gender of the sexually monomorphic Hornbill through internal examination of its reproductive organs.

    Southeast Asia in Pictures 2011

  • This monomorphic species is identified by its overall greyish colour, white forehead, orange-red eyes surrounded by black and its orangish or chestnut-coloured belly and undertail coverts.

    Mystery bird: Ethiopian catbird, Parophasma galinieri 2011

  • But it will not show calcifications - ever, as far as i can tell - as being monomorphic vs pleomorphic vs vascular.

    What is the Role for Breast Sonogram? aka TBTAM 2008

  • They are not, though, grotesque in their habits, physically repulsive to most other humans, monolinguistic, monocultural, or monomorphic.

    Archive 2009-08-01 2009

  • They are not, though, grotesque in their habits, physically repulsive to most other humans, monolinguistic, monocultural, or monomorphic.

    District 9 2009

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