monorail

UK/ˈmɒnəɹeɪl/US/ˈmɑnəɹeɪl/

nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,967 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: monorails

A monorail is a train that runs along a single raised beam. Ride the monorail, an airport monorail, the monorail station.

It cannot switch tracks easily, which is the practical reason so few cities build networks of them — they suit shuttles between fixed points, which is why airports and theme parks use them. Tokyo's has run since 1964. Note that mono- means one, so a monorail is a one-rail line.

Definitions of monorail

1nounmonorailA train running along a single raised beam.B2+
“A monorail carries passengers from the airport to the city centre.”

monorail is a railway.

Where it comes from

French monorail is mono, one, plus rail. The Greek monos means alone or single.

French
monorail
English, today
monorail

Borrowed from French monorail, equivalent to mono + rail.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Vehicles & Machines, Railways

Practise this word

monorail in the wild

A monorail is a form of urban rail transit in which trains run on or are suspended from a single rail or beam.
Monorail
Two principal types exist: straddle-beam monorails, in which vehicles ride atop a concrete or steel beam, and suspended monorails, in which vehicles hang beneath the guideway.
Monorail
The KL Monorail Line is the only operational monorail system in Malaysia.
KL Monorail
The Tokyo Monorail, officially the Tokyo Monorail Haneda Airport Line, is a straddle-beam Alweg-type monorail line in Tokyo, Japan.
Tokyo Monorail
The Osaka Monorail is a straddle-beam, Alweg-type monorail system in northern Osaka Prefecture, Japan, operated by the third-sector Osaka Monorail Co., Ltd.
Osaka Monorail

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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