as in imitative
using or marked by the use of something else as a basis or model
critics faulted the novel for having a painfully unoriginal plot
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Recent Examples of unoriginal
Meta said unoriginal content is when images or videos are reused without crediting the original creator.
—
Zach Vallese, CNBC, 14 July 2025
These are deeply unoriginal ideas about the future.
—Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 14 July 2025
So far, what AI produces in the way of literature is purely derivative and thus noticeably unoriginal.
—Lizz Schumer, People.com, 28 May 2025
The very best ones deviate from dupe culture, which often features unoriginal designs made with lower-quality materials.
—Irene Richardson, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for unoriginal
Zach Vallese, CNBC, 14 July 2025
These are deeply unoriginal ideas about the future.
—Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 14 July 2025
So far, what AI produces in the way of literature is purely derivative and thus noticeably unoriginal.
—Lizz Schumer, People.com, 28 May 2025
The very best ones deviate from dupe culture, which often features unoriginal designs made with lower-quality materials.
—Irene Richardson, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for unoriginal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unoriginal
Adjective
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Conversations in dorm rooms and lecture halls consist of roughly 97% university-loathing and imitative protests to fire coaches and athletic directors.—
Noah White,
Miami Herald,
30 Sep. 2025
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Third-party imitative learning from an immigrating parrot’s flockmates may facilitate overall group integration and social bonding and may even give rise to cultural conventions of coordinated movements or gestures.—
GrrlScientist,
Forbes.com,
13 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Whether that stemmed more from the lack of roster depth or from Malone’s formulaic rotations is up for debate.—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
16 Oct. 2025
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Critics might say: If consumers can’t tell the real from the robotic, why is AI any worse than the heap of creatively threadbare and formulaic stuff made by humans?—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
2 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unoriginal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unoriginal. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.
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