monadnock

English

Etymology

From the name of Mount Monadnock in New England, which derives from an Abenaki word, perhaps menonadenak, menonadenek (“smooth mountain”) or menadenak, menadenek (“isolated mountain”), from aden (“mountain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məˈnædˌnɒk/

Noun

monadnock (plural monadnocks)

1. A hill or mountain standing isolated above a predominantly flat plain.
   • 1901, Philip Emerson, “Notes on the New England Upland about the White Mountains”, in Appalachia, volume IX, page 57:

     Eastward from the White Mountains, the open sea of the upland country comes right to the monadnock shore, with hardly an outlying island; southward the upland is covered for miles by an archipelago of monadnock groups and peaks.

Synonyms

• inselberg

See also

• nunatak