Meanings
plural monomachies
- archaicA fight or other contest between two people or forces; a duel; single combat.First known use 16th c.
Wherefore we most heartily provoke, challenge, and defy your Lordship to the said combat and monomachy […]
1951, C. S. Lewis, chapter 13, in Prince Caspian, Collins, published 19981 more example
He that shall observe […] so much emulation, envy, so many brawls, quarrels, monomachies, etc., may well require what is become of charity?
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 1, member 3
Origin
- Latinmonomachia
- Middle Frenchmonomachie
- Englishmonomachy
From Middle French monomachie, or its source, Latin monomachia. Also mono- + -machy.
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
monomachy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monomachy
“monomachy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monomachy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “monomachy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monomachy.
Source: monomachy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.