monad

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: mon=ad

CIDE DICTIONARY

monad, n. [L. monas, -adis, a unit, Gr. , , fr. mo`nos alone.].

•  An ultimate atom, or simple, unextended point; something ultimate and indivisible.  [1913 Webster]
•  The elementary and indestructible units which were conceived of as endowed with the power to produce all the changes they undergo, and thus determine all physical and spiritual phenomena.  [1913 Webster]
•  One of the smallest flagellate Infusoria; esp., the species of the genus Monas, and allied genera.  [1913 Webster]
•  A simple, minute organism; a primary cell, germ, or plastid.  [1913 Webster]
•  An atom or radical whose valence is one, or which can combine with, be replaced by, or exchanged for, one atom of hydrogen.  [1913 Webster]

Monad deme (Biol.), in tectology, a unit of the first order of individuality.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

monad, n.
1 the number one; a unit.
2 Philos. any ultimate unit of being (e.g. a soul, an atom, a person, God).
3 Biol. a simple organism, e.g. one assumed as the first in the genealogy of living beings.

Derivative

monadic adj. monadism n. (in sense 2).

Etymology

F monade or LL monas monad- f. Gk monas -ados unit f. monos alone

DEVIL DICTIONARY

monad

n. The ultimate, indivisible unit of matter. (See _Molecule_.) According to Leibnitz, as nearly as he seems willing to be understood, the monad has body without bulk, and mind without manifestation -- Leibnitz knows him by the innate power of considering. He has founded upon him a theory of the universe, which the creature bears without resentment, for the monad is a gentlmean. Small as he is, the monad contains all the powers and possibilities needful to his evolution into a German philosopher of the first class -- altogether a very capable little fellow. He is not to be confounded with the microbe, or bacillus; by its inability to discern him, a good microscope shows him to be of an entirely distinct species.

THESAURUS

monad

I, ace, air, an existence, atom, atomic particles, being, body, brute matter, building block, chemical element, component, constituent, creature, critter, earth, electron, element, elementary particle, elementary unit, entelechy, entity, fire, fundamental particle, hyle, hypostasis, individual, ion, life, material, material world, materiality, matter, meson, molecule, natural world, nature, no other, none else, nothing else, nought beside, nuclear particle, object, one, one and only, organism, person, persona, personality, physical world, plenum, proton, quark, something, soul, stuff, substance, substratum, the four elements, thing, unit, unit of being, water

ROGET THESAURUS

monad

Littleness

N littleness, smallness, exiguity, inextension, parvitude, parvity, duodecimo, Elzevir edition, epitome, microcosm, rudiment, vanishing point, thinness, dwarf, pygmy, pigmy, Liliputian, chit, pigwidgeon, urchin, elf, atomy, dandiprat, doll, puppet, Tom Thumb, Hop-o'-my-thumb, manikin, mannikin, homunculus, dapperling, cock-sparrow, animalcule, monad, mite, insect, emmet, fly, midge, gnat, shrimp, minnow, worm, maggot, entozoon, bacteria, infusoria, microzoa, phytozoaria, microbe, grub, tit, tomtit, runt, mouse, small fry, millet seed, mustard seed, barleycorn, pebble, grain of sand, molehill, button, bubble, point, atom, fragment, powder, point of a pin, mathematical point, minutiae, micrometer, vernier, scale, microphotography, photomicrography, micrography, photomicrograph, microphotograph, microscopy, microscope (optical instruments), little, small, minute, diminutive, microscopic, microzoal, inconsiderable, exiguous, puny, tiny, wee, petty, minikin, miniature, pygmy, pigmy, elfin, undersized, dwarf, dwarfed, dwarfish, spare, stunted, limited, cramp, cramped, pollard, Liliputian, dapper, pocket, portative, portable, duodecimo, dumpy, squat, short, impalpable, intangible, evanescent, imperceptible, invisible, inappreciable, insignificant, inconsiderable, trivial, infinitesimal, homoeopathic, atomic, subatomic, corpuscular, molecular, rudimentary, rudimental, embryonic, vestigial, weazen, scant, scraggy, scrubby, thin, granular, shrunk, brevipennate, in a small compass, in a nutshell, on a small scale, minutely, microscopically.