plural novellas or novelle
nō-ˈve-lē 
1
plural novelle
: a story with a compact and pointed plot
2
plural novellas
: a work of fiction intermediate in length and complexity between a short story and a novel
Examples of novella in a Sentence
pressed for time, many English teachers have their students read the one novella among the novelist's works
Recent Examples on the Web
Train Dreams is an adaptation of Denis Johnson's novella; the movie stars Joel Edgerton as a man named Robert Grainier who lives in the Pacific Northwest at the beginning of the 20th century.
—
Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 5 Jan. 2026
Joining the ranks of books like Yume Kitasei’s The Stardust Grail is Molly Tanzer’s novella, which follows a group of misfits trying to infiltrate the intergalactic Greenwood Museum.
—Literary Hub, 2 Jan. 2026
Each season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on a different novella chronicling Dunk (Peter Claffey) and Egg’s (Dexter Sol Ansell) travels to another area of Westeros, so most of the supporting cast are expected to change every season.
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 2 Jan. 2026
Ingvild Rishøi, the Norwegian author of the Christmas novella Brightly Shining (2024), is back with a triptych of tender portraits set in the frigid Oslo winter.
—Air Mail, 27 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for novella
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Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 5 Jan. 2026
Joining the ranks of books like Yume Kitasei’s The Stardust Grail is Molly Tanzer’s novella, which follows a group of misfits trying to infiltrate the intergalactic Greenwood Museum.
—Literary Hub, 2 Jan. 2026
Each season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on a different novella chronicling Dunk (Peter Claffey) and Egg’s (Dexter Sol Ansell) travels to another area of Westeros, so most of the supporting cast are expected to change every season.
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 2 Jan. 2026
Ingvild Rishøi, the Norwegian author of the Christmas novella Brightly Shining (2024), is back with a triptych of tender portraits set in the frigid Oslo winter.
—Air Mail, 27 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for novella
Cite this Entry
“Novella.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/novella. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
novella
noun
no·vel·la
nō-ˈvel-ə
: a work of fiction falling between a short story and a novel in length and complexity
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