Monophasic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having or occurring in a single phase or cycle, without repeated stages ; applied to a drug given as one single formulation ; describing an alternating current or voltage carried through one wave
2. Consisting of one distinct phase or cycle that does not repeat in stages ; referring to a medication delivered in one unified preparation ; relating to a single-phase alternating electrical supply
3. Marked by a single period or stage of activity ; used of a treatment composed as one combined dose ; characterizing an electrical system that supplies one alternating current

Etymology: Monophasic is a modern scientific formation, built from two Greek elements. The first, "mono-", comes from Greek "mónos", meaning "single" or "alone", and appears in countless English coinages. The second part is "phasic", an adjective from "phase", which was itself borrowed into English from New Latin "phasis" and ultimately traces back to the Greek "phásis", meaning "appearance" or "aspect", from the verb "phainein", "to show". So the word literally describes something with one phase. "Phase" moved from the Greek idea of something coming into view to the more technical sense of a stage or appearance of a changing thing, such as the Moon's phases or the stages of a process. Combining "mono-" with "phasic" gives a term for anything that occurs in a single phase or cycle, rather than in several. Because it is a technical coinage, it has no ancient usage. Its meaning is set by its parts: "mono-" for one, and "phasic" for relating to phases.

Synonyms: single-phase

Antonyms: polyphasic, polyphase