monotropy /mənot″rəpē/ [Gk, monos + trepein, to turn] , 1. a concept, named by J. Bowlby, describing the phenomenon in which a mother appears to be able to bond with only one infant at a time. −monotropic, adj. 2. (in chemistry) the existence of allotropes of an element, one of which is stable and the other is metastable under all known conditions.
