: an invented prose narrative that is usually long and complex and deals especially with human experience through a usually connected sequence of events
The novel begins on the eve of its main character's graduation from college …—Heller McAlpin
2
: the literary genre consisting of novels
… they proclaim the novel's death in part to whip up their resolve to effect its resurrection.—Liesl Schillinger and Benjamin Moser
If someone tells you that you've come up with a novel idea or a novel interpretation of something, it's probably a compliment: not everyone is capable of original thinking. But not everything new is terribly worthwhile; a novelty, for example, is often a cute (or maybe just silly) little object that you might put on a display shelf in your house. It may seem surprising that the familiar noun novel is related as well. In the 14th century, Italian writers began writing collections of short tales, each of which they called a novella because it represented a new literary form; from this word, three centuries later, the English coined the noun novel.
novel applies to what is not only new but strange or unprecedented.
a novel approach to the problem
original applies to what is the first of its kind to exist.
a man without one original idea
fresh applies to what has not lost its qualities of newness such as liveliness, energy, brightness.
a fresh start
Examples of novel in a Sentence
Adjective (1)
She has suggested a novel approach to the problem.
Handheld computers are novel devices.
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Noun
The Benedict Canyon property is an important part of the novel that has already been forgotten here.—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
27 Aug. 2026 She and her hundreds of pet snails are visited by a young man named Edward Ridgeway (Alden Ehrenreich) who has been sent by her American publisher to convince her to sign a contract to write one more Ripley novel.—
Rebecca Ford,
Vanity Fair,
26 Aug. 2026
Adjective
There was nothing particularly novel about the show’s premise, but the scripts were refreshingly dense with jokes, prioritizing laughs over contrived drama or seasonlong relationship arcs.—
Ben Rosenstock,
Vulture,
28 Aug. 2026 As per the team, the novel technology could also support a more circular cement industry.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for novel
Word History
Etymology
Noun
earlier nouell, nouelle "short prose narrative," borrowed from Italian novella — more at novella
Adjective (1)
Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French & continental Old French, "new" — more at nouveau
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