How to Use one-note in a Sentence
one-note
adjective-
Which isn’t to say that his style is one-note – it’s never been.
— Julian Randall, Essence, 24 May 2024 -
The less said about Kraven's snarling, one-note performance, the better.
— Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 17 Oct. 2023 -
As such, the role could have easily been reduced to a bit part or a one-note villain.
— TIME, 13 Oct. 2023 -
And although one of Patrick’s gifts to us is her honesty, at times the book felt repetitive and too one-note.
— Steven Petrow, Washington Post, 14 May 2023 -
Slow, ballad-y verses that build to an epic one-note melody chorus.
— Eli Miller, Vulture, 16 June 2023 -
Wilson is a skilled actor who doesn’t play a one-note foil for Momoa’s antics.
— Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times, 22 Dec. 2023 -
Fabian is mostly a one-note character, and that’s the note—peeved outrage.
— Sarah Larson, The New Yorker, 8 Feb. 2024 -
Audiences could safely assume the movies’ one-note joke — a children’s toy that swears like a grown-up! — had run its course.
— Alison Herman, Variety, 11 Jan. 2024 -
The actress indeed does a lot with a role that could easily be one-note, stealing nearly every scene in the process.
— Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Nov. 2023 -
Lively’s charm can only carry Lily so far before the character starts to feel too one-note.
— Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Aug. 2024 -
His keyboard player Kenny, king of the one-note solo, is holding down that B-flat organ key while waiting for the changes to come around again and catch up to his note.
— Bart Bull, SPIN, 20 Feb. 2023 -
For all that, his Arthur remains a lowly outsider, with a downcast gaze, a peevish temper, and a deep well of melancholy that never feels one-note.
— Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2024 -
In what at first feels like a one-note role, Maupas subtly finds the depths of hope beneath Severino’s judgmental surface.
— Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Aug. 2023 -
The system doesn’t typify one-note characters, just as real life shouldn’t.
— WIRED, 26 July 2023 -
Russia is pretty much a one-note economy: Fossil fuel exports pay the bills.
— David Cay Johnston, The New Republic, 30 Mar. 2023 -
A little of this goes a very long way, especially when the Bandits themselves are relatively one-note.
— Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 23 July 2024 -
For all the wit and care of the performances, Malcolm and JB register as one-note ciphers because the adaptation cuts them down to little more than plot functionaries.
— David Benedict, Variety, 5 Apr. 2023 -
Beethoven’s Fifth, ending Saturday’s program, appeared to be headed the same direction after a one-note first movement.
— Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 14 July 2024 -
Designers never walk into a single showroom or store and outfit an entire room; that would result in an overly trendy, one-note design.
— Ryan Conner, Dallas News, 10 Mar. 2023 -
Lynch is nuanced enough to make Frank a memorably self-loathing villain instead of a one-note stooge, which ultimately makes the show more rewarding as a drama than as comedy.
— Chris Klimek, Washington Post, 10 Apr. 2024 -
The later films in the original Apes series struggle with creating a compelling human element, and the humans in Battle are painfully one-note.
— Barry Levitt, Vulture, 10 May 2024 -
The aspects that his acolytes push into one-note histrionics or weirder-than-thou eccentricity are all here, but in the right proportions, with dancers who have been trained and coached to maintain the right frequencies.
— Brian Seibert, New York Times, 2 Mar. 2023 -
But the book operates as a reminder — never dull, often stinging — of what is lost when nuanced argument is supplanted by one-note bullhorns.
— David Amsden, Los Angeles Times, 2 Jan. 2024 -
But Hacks brings depth to a character who could otherwise be one-note — and Olson points to DJ’s pregnancy as a new obstacle in her fractured relationship with her mom.
— Tyler Coates, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 June 2024 -
There was nothing nice to say about the dry pork chop, which couldn’t be salvaged even after a dip in the accompanying honey and roasted garlic sauce, or a one-note side dish of creamed spinach doing a great imitation of glue.
— Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 29 Sep. 2023 -
Holga’s comments begin to sound one-note, and patience wears thin with Simon’s diffidence and Doric’s indifference.
— Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2023 -
Balanchine’s choreography was suddenly a one-note affair; this was a terrible way to show off his legacy.
— Gia Kourlas, New York Times, 6 Oct. 2023 -
With the female characters sidelined to one-note cheerleaders, Clooney puts his focus on the fantastic production design.
— Amy Nicholson, New York Times, 24 Dec. 2023 -
One of the biggest weaknesses of Lucas’s partnership with fellow comedian Noel Fielding was their one-note double act.
— James Hansen, Bon Appétit, 28 Sep. 2023 -
Other supporting figures are mostly one-note, including Olive Abercrombie as the inevitable sass-mouthed little sister to Zach.
— Dennis Harvey, Variety, 18 Oct. 2023
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'one-note.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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