novel
1a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters and usually presenting a sequential organization of action and scenes.
(formerly) novella (def. 1).
Origin of novel
1Other words from novel
- nov·el·like, adjective
Words Nearby novel
Other definitions for novel (2 of 3)
of a new and unusual kind; different from anything seen or known before: a novel idea.
not previously detected or reported: the emergence of novel strains of the virus.
Origin of novel
2synonym study For novel
Other definitions for novel (3 of 3)
Roman Law.
an imperial enactment subsequent and supplementary to an imperial compilation and codification of authoritative legal materials.
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.
Civil Law. an amendment to a statute.
Origin of novel
3Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use novel in a sentence
Submission is less a novel of ideas than a political book, and of the most subversive kind.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President | Pierre Assouline | January 9, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTHouellebecq on Thursday announced that he is suspending promotion of the novel.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President | Pierre Assouline | January 9, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTHe was not originally so uninhibited, however, as can now be seen in his “lost” novel, Skylight.
His books include Render unto Rome and a novel about Louisiana politics, Last of the Red Hot Poppas.
None of these writers set out to write an “immigrant novel,” or to make political statements.
But the novel disappeared under the clothes with amazing celerity as the voice of her sister-in-law demanded admission.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3) | Charles James WillsOnce on my legs I found that nervousness left me, words came freely and I even enjoyed the novel experience.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland | Joseph TatlowYou will not read the book with the rapidity with which some young ladies are said to devour the latest novel.
Assimilative Memory | Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)I tried to forget the grotesque exhibition I had stumbled upon, in the novel and interesting scene about me.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonI have a mild grievance against that talented lady, Miss Marjorie Bowen, for labelling her latest novel "a romantic fantasy."
British Dictionary definitions for novel (1 of 3)
/ (ˈnɒvəl) /
an extended work in prose, either fictitious or partly so, dealing with character, action, thought, etc, esp in the form of a story
the novel the literary genre represented by novels
(usually plural) obsolete a short story or novella, as one of those in the Decameron of Boccaccio
Origin of novel
1British Dictionary definitions for novel (2 of 3)
/ (ˈnɒvəl) /
of a kind not seen before; fresh; new; original: a novel suggestion
Origin of novel
2British Dictionary definitions for novel (3 of 3)
/ (ˈnɒvəl) /
Roman law a new decree or an amendment to an existing statute: See also Novels
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for novel
A long, fictional narration in prose. Great Expectations and Huckleberry Finn are novels, as are War and Peace and Lord of the Flies.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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