as in tale
a work with imaginary characters and events that is shorter and usually less complex than a novel
pressed for time, many English teachers have their students read the one novella among the novelist's works
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Recent Examples of novella
His 2001 novella God’s Debris describes a pandeistic philosophy, while his 2004 novel The Religion War tells the tale of a man on a mission to stop a calamitous war between Christians and Muslims.
—
Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 3 Nov. 2025
The novella lacks the temporal markers that indicate how much time has passed between episodes and exhibits an abundance of characters with ruptured psyches.
—JSTOR Daily, 30 Oct. 2025
Harrison, a passionate, if middling, fisherman who would later publish Legends of the Fall; Brautigan, the author of the celebrated 1967 novella Trout Fishing in America; and Guy de la Valdène, a French writer, sportsman, and Norman count.
—Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 30 Oct. 2025
Based on Stephen King's 2010 novella of the same name, this 2017 horror flick follows a Nebraskan farmer (Thomas Jane) who enlists the help of his 14-year-old son (Dylan Schmid) in a sinister plot to murder his wife (Molly Parker).
—Emy Lacroix, PEOPLE, 29 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for novella
Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 3 Nov. 2025
The novella lacks the temporal markers that indicate how much time has passed between episodes and exhibits an abundance of characters with ruptured psyches.
—JSTOR Daily, 30 Oct. 2025
Harrison, a passionate, if middling, fisherman who would later publish Legends of the Fall; Brautigan, the author of the celebrated 1967 novella Trout Fishing in America; and Guy de la Valdène, a French writer, sportsman, and Norman count.
—Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 30 Oct. 2025
Based on Stephen King's 2010 novella of the same name, this 2017 horror flick follows a Nebraskan farmer (Thomas Jane) who enlists the help of his 14-year-old son (Dylan Schmid) in a sinister plot to murder his wife (Molly Parker).
—Emy Lacroix, PEOPLE, 29 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for novella
Recent Examples of Synonyms for novella
Noun
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Musicalizing the story does little to ground the audience in Jackie’s world and instead pulls and stretches the tale, when the themes alone could speak for themselves.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
10 Nov. 2025
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As the title suggests, this sprawling tale centers on Raja, a man in his sixties who lives with his mother in Beirut, a city shaking with political and ecological turmoil.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
10 Nov. 2025
Noun
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This show has always been a part of our love story.—
Okla Jones,
Essence,
11 Nov. 2025
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The Bee’s Darrell Smith contributed to this story.—
Rosalio Ahumada,
Sacbee.com,
11 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Novella.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/novella. Accessed 19 Nov. 2025.
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