novel

¹ American  

[nov-uhl] / ˈnɒv əl /

adjective

1. of a new and unusual kind; different from anything seen or known before.

   a novel idea.

2. not previously detected or reported.

   the emergence of novel strains of the virus.

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novel ² American  

[nov-uhl] / ˈnɒv əl /

noun

1. Roman Law.

   1. an imperial enactment subsequent and supplementary to an imperial compilation and codification of authoritative legal materials.

   2. Usually Novels imperial enactments subsequent to the promulgation of Justinian's Code and supplementary to it: one of the four divisions of the Corpus Juris Civilis.

2. Civil Law. an amendment to a statute.

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novel ³ American  

[nov-uhl] / ˈnɒv əl /

noun

1. a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters and usually presenting a sequential organization of action and scenes.

2. (formerly) novella.

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novel ¹ British  

/ ˈnɒvəl /

noun

1. an extended work in prose, either fictitious or partly so, dealing with character, action, thought, etc, esp in the form of a story

2. the literary genre represented by novels

3. obsolete (usually plural) a short story or novella, as one of those in the Decameron of Boccaccio

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novel ² British  

/ ˈnɒvəl /

adjective

1. of a kind not seen before; fresh; new; original

   a novel suggestion

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novel ³ British  

/ ˈnɒvəl /

noun

1. Roman law a new decree or an amendment to an existing statute See also Novels

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novel Cultural  

1. A long, fictional narration in prose. Great Expectations and Huckleberry Finn are novels, as are War and Peace and Lord of the Flies.

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Usage

What is a novel? A novel is a long work of fiction written in prose that tells a narrative involving characters and usually involving an organized set of actions occurring in a setting.Let’s break that down. Fiction is a type of writing (literature) that involves characters that don’t exist or people (usually famous) who have been reimagined (fictionalized). The events in fiction are made up, or, in the case of historic events, were fictionalized.Prose is the ordinary manner of writing that we use, that is, using complete sentences and not poetic verses. A narrative is a telling of events or experiences. Stories and essays are narratives.A setting is a story’s location and time. Some novels take place in our own time and place, while others take place in the past, in another country, in the future, and even in space or on other planets (real or made-up).Length is usually the key difference between works of fiction. While there are no official rules, a novel is generally at least 50,000 words, and many novels are much longer than this. By contrast, a short story is often 1,000 to 10,000 words, although flash fiction can be as short as 500 words. A novella (a short novel) is somewhere in between a short story and a novel.

Related Words

See new.

Other Word Forms

• novellike adjective

Etymology

Origin of novel¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Anglo-French, Middle French novel, from Old French novel, nouvel, from Latin novellus “fresh, young, novel,” diminutive of novus “new”; new

Origin of novel¹

First recorded in 1605–15; from Late Latin novella (constitūtiō) “a new (regulation, order)”; novel ²

Origin of novel¹

First recorded in 1560–70; from Italian novella (storia) “new (story)”; novel ²

Example Sentences

In 2016, the company gave the premiere of Bright Sheng’s “Dream of the Red Chamber,” which is, like “Monkey,” based on a classic Chinese novel and has a libretto by Hwang.

From Los Angeles Times

I’d recently started writing my novel, “King of the Armadillos,” inspired by his experience, and he was helping me access material from the archives of the National Hansen’s Disease Museum.

From Salon

Stamirowska said the name of Pathway’s architecture is inspired by the dragons in Terry Pratchett’s novel “Color of Magic,” which appear more frequently as the characters think about them.

From The Wall Street Journal

This was novel and voluntary – such a thing had never happened before.

From BBC

Reports say major plot points were similar to a novel that was published in 1973, and the show’s French production company is investigating.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• different
• innovative
• odd
• offbeat
• peculiar
• strange
• unique
• unusual