My new word

[megnc86]

Ok, this isn’t MY new word. But, I did submit it to Merriam-Webster's Open Dictionary after some research and discussion with phoebe. And it is online!

The submission:

Monomodal
Adjective

1. confined to or focusing on a single form or manner of expression or communication.
2. Having only one form and/or function.

Examples:
“Some writers are monomodal,

Comments

[zunger]

Hmm... shouldn't it be "unimodal" rather than "monomodal?" Mode is Latin, rather than Greek, and I'm fairly sure I've heard unimodal used much more in text.

(Check on Google: 85.7khits for monomodal, 894khits for unimodal)

OTOH "unimodal" is used most commonly when speaking of probability distributions (e.g. a single Gaussian peak) so it's not obvious that the same word would extend to all other uses.

[megnc86]

I don’t know.

I have heard monomodal used more often. All of my actual experience with monomodal has been in reference to sensory systems (a single sense being a monomode of perception). I know that Monomodal and Bimodal are used to talk about statistical modes. While unimodal makes sense for the same purpose I haven’t run across it.

You are probably right Mr. Smarts.

By the way, I'm getting A's in physics. Right now we are getting into electromagnetism (very basic stuff from your standpoint).

[zunger]

Interesting. Now I'm feeling an urge to collect statistics on the contexts in which unimodal and monomodal show up -- perhaps it's a bimodal distribution. :)

And congrats on the physics! How's school going overall?

[megnc86]

Har har, I love statistics jokes. I love biology jokes even more. Overall school is fun. Though, I look forward to the time when I can take more majors courses and fewer chemistry courses. I can keep afloat, but I don’t enjoy Organic Chemistry or Biochemistry. College has to two velocity modes, very slow and very fast. I am really busy yet I want to do more…sigh.

[spideyj]

I love you, Megan. You're the best!

Nani, enjoying all the science jokes but unable to produce any of her own