Synonyms of originality

originality

noun

ə-ˌri-jə-ˈna-lə-tē 

1

as in novelty

the quality or appeal of being new

the originality of the war memorial sparked a heated controversy, as most people had been expecting something more traditional

Synonyms & Similar Words

• novelty
• freshness
• newness
• innovation
• trendiness
• hipness
• progressiveness
• unusualness
• bizarreness
• strangeness
• unfamiliarity
• departure
• recentness
• currentness
• divergence
• up-to-dateness
• shoot
• offshoot

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• familiarity
• banality
• commonness
• staleness
• outdatedness

2

as in creativity

the skill and imagination to create new things

a poet of great originality, she brought a whole new range of subject matter and imagery to poetry

Synonyms & Similar Words

• creativity
• creativeness
• imagination
• innovativeness
• ingenuity
• talent
• inventiveness
• imaginativeness
• cleverness
• ingeniousness
• productivity
• invention
• resourcefulness
• productiveness
• fecundity
• fruitfulness
• capableness
• fertility
• prolificness
• prolificacy
• prolificity
• giftedness
• genius
• inspiration
• muse
• fire

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• dryness
• dullness

3

as in imagination

the ability to form mental images of things that either are not physically present or have never been conceived or created by others

a graphic novel that shows a lot of originality on the part of its creator

Synonyms & Similar Words

• creativity
• imagination
• imaginativeness
• inventiveness
• fertility
• ideation
• invention
• fantasy
• resourcefulness
• ingenuity
• contrivance
• fancy
• inspiration
• fecundity
• versatility
• brainstorming
• dream
• brainstorm
• illusion
• pipe dream
• mirage
• delusion
• chimera
• daydream
• figment
• visualization
• hallucination
• phantasm
• mind's eye
• envisaging

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• literalness
• literality

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of originality

The two musicians are so good at aping the sounds they were raised on that originality and reference become one and the same. — Andrew Ryce, Pitchfork, 22 Oct. 2026

And Hollywood still hasn’t truly invested in that kind of originality. — Emily Maskell, IndieWire, 22 Oct. 2026

Since its earliest days, the video game industry has been built on developers creating clones of competing games, with varying levels of originality and varying levels of enforcement from game platforms. — Kyle Orland, ArsTechnica, 19 Oct. 2026

Others could imitate but never replicate; their coolness was predicated on their originality. — Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026