novel

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: nov=el

CIDE DICTIONARY

novel, a. [OF. novel, nuvel, F. nouvel, nouveau, L. novellus, dim. of novus new. See New.].

 Of recent origin or introduction; not ancient; new; hence, out of the ordinary course; unusual; strange; surprising.  [1913 Webster]
" In civil law, the novel or new constitutions are those which are supplemental to the code, and posterior in time to the other books. These contained new decrees of successive emperors."  [1913 Webster]

Novel assignment (Law), a new assignment or specification of a suit.

Syn. -- New; recent; modern; fresh; strange; uncommon; rare; unusual.

novel, n. [F. nouvelle. See Novel, a.].

•  That which is new or unusual; a novelty.  [1913 Webster]
•  News; fresh tidings.  [1913 Webster]

  "Some came of curiosity to hear some novels."  [1913 Webster]
•  A fictitious tale or narrative, longer than a short story, having some degree of complexity and development of characters; it is usually organized as a time sequence of events, and is commonly intended to exhibit the operation of the passions, and often of love.  Dryden.  [1913 Webster]
•  A new or supplemental constitution. See the Note under Novel, a.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

novel, n.
1 a fictitious prose story of book length.
2 (prec. by the) this type of literature.

novel, adj. of a new kind or nature; strange; previously unknown.

Derivative

novelly adv.

Etymology

ME f. OF f. L novellus f. novus new

DEVIL DICTIONARY

novel

n. A short story padded. A species of composition bearing the same relation to literature that the panorama bears to art. As it is too long to be read at a sitting the impressions made by its successive parts are successively effaced, as in the panorama. Unity, totality of effect, is impossible; for besides the few pages last read all that is carried in mind is the mere plot of what has gone before. To the romance the novel is what photography is to painting. Its distinguishing principle, probability, corresponds to the literal actuality of the photograph and puts it distinctly into the category of reporting; whereas the free wing of the romancer enables him to mount to such altitudes of imagination as he may be fitted to attain; and the first three essentials of the literary art are imagination, imagination and imagination. The art of writing novels, such as it was, is long dead everywhere except in Russia, where it is new. Peace to its ashes -- some of which have a large sale.

THESAURUS

novel

Bildungsroman, Gothic novel, authentic, avant-garde, bauble, best seller, bibelot, blockbuster, book, bound book, classic, coloring book, comic novel, creative, curio, definitive work, detective novel, different, dime novel, dreadful, epistolary novel, erotic novel, firsthand, folio, fresh, gewgaw, gimcrack, great work, hardback, historical novel, imaginative, juvenile, juvenile book, limp-cover book, magnum opus, modern, modernistic, narrative, neoteric, new, new-fashioned, newfangled, nonbook, notebook, nouvelle, novel of character, novel of ideas, novel of incident, novel of manners, novel of sensibility, novelette, novella, odd, opus, opuscule, opusculum, original, paperback, peculiar, penny dreadful, picaresque novel, picture book, playbook, pocket book, pornographic novel, prayer book, problem novel, production, proletarian novel, propaganda novel, psalmbook, psalter, psychological novel, publication, recent, regional novel, revolutionary, river novel, roman, roman a clef, roman-fleuve, romance, satirical novel, science-fiction novel, sentimental novel, serial, shilling shocker, short story, short-short, singular, sketchbook, sociological novel, soft-cover, songbook, special, standard work, storiette, story, storybook, strange, stream-of-consciousness novel, tale, thesis novel, title, tome, trade book, trifle, trinket, uncommon, unconventional, underived, unfamiliar, unheard-of, unique, untested, untried, unusual, vignette, volume, whatnot, work, writing

ROGET THESAURUS

novel

Description

N description, account, statement, report, expose, specification, particulars, state of facts, summary of facts, brief, return, catalogue raisonne, guidebook, delineation, sketch, monograph, minute account, detailed particular account, circumstantial account, graphic account, narration, recital, rehearsal, relation, historiography, chronography, historic Muse, Clio, history, biography, autobiography, necrology, obituary, narrative, history, memoir, memorials, annals, saga, tradition, legend, story, tale, historiette, personal narrative, journal, life, adventures, fortunes, experiences, confessions, anecdote, ana, trait, work of fiction, novel, romance, Minerva press, fairy tale, nursery tale, fable, parable, apologue, dime novel, penny dreadful, shilling shocker relator, raconteur, historian, biographer, fabulist, novelist, descriptive, graphic, narrative, epic, suggestive, well-drawn, historic, traditional, traditionary, legendary, anecdotic, storied, described, furor scribendi.

Dissimilarity

N dissimilarity, dissimilaritude, unlikeness, diversity, disparity, dissemblance, divergence, variation, difference, novelty, originality, creativeness, oogamy, dissimilar, unlike, disparate, divergent, of a different kind, unmatched, unique, new, novel, unprecedented, original, nothing of the kind, no such thing, quite another thing, far from it, cast in a different mold, tertium quid, as like a dock as a daisy, very like a whale, as different as chalk from cheese, as different as Macedon and Monmouth, lucus a non lucendo, diversified, otherwise, diis aliter visum, no more like my father than I to Hercules.

Unconformity

N unconformity, nonconformity, unconformity, disconformity, unconventionality, informality, abnormity, abnormality, anomaly, anomalousness, exception, peculiarity, infraction of law, breach, of law, violation of law, violation of custom, violation of usage, infringement of law, infringement of custom, infringement of usage, teratism, eccentricity, bizarrerie, oddity, je ne sais quoi, monster, monstrosity, rarity, freak, freak of Nature, weirdo, mutant, rouser, snorter, individuality, idiosyncrasy, originality, mannerism, aberration, irregularity, variety, singularity, exemption, salvo, nonconformist, nondescript, character, original, nonesuch, nonsuch, monster, prodigy, wonder, miracle, curiosity, flying fish, black sheep, black swan, lusus naturae, rara avis, queer fish, mongrel, random breed, half-caste, half-blood, half-breed, metis, crossbreed, hybrid, mule, hinny, mulatto, tertium quid, hermaphrodite, phoenix, chimera, hydra, sphinx, minotaur, griffin, griffon, centaur, saggittary, kraken, cockatrice, wyvern, roc, dragon, sea serpent, mermaid, merman, merfolk, unicorn, Cyclops, men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders, teratology, fish out of water, neither one thing nor another, neither fish nor fowl, neither fish flesh nor fowl nor good red herring, one in a million, one in a way, one in a thousand, outcast, outlaw, off the beaten track, oasis, uncomformable, exceptional, abnormal, abnormous, anomalous, anomalistic, out of order, out of place, out of keeping, out of tune, out of one's element, irregular, arbitrary, teratogenic, lawless, informal, aberrant, stray, wandering, wanton, peculiar, exclusive, unnatural, eccentric, egregious, out of the beaten track, off the beaten track, out of the common, out of the common run, beyond the pale of, out of the pale of, misplaced, funny, unusual, unaccustomed, uncustomary, unwonted, uncommon, rare, curious, odd, extraordinary, out of the ordinary, strange, monstrous, wonderful, unexpected, unaccountable, outre, out of the way, remarkable, noteworthy, queer, quaint, nondescript, none such, sui generis, unfashionable, fantastic, grotesque, bizarre, outlandish, exotic, tombe des nues, preternatural, denaturalized, heterogeneous, heteroclite, amorphous, mongrel, amphibious, epicene, half blood, hybrid, androgynous, androgynal, asymmetric, adelomorphous, bisexual, hermaphrodite, monoclinous, qualified, singular, unique, one-of-a-kind, newfangled, novel, non-classical, original, unconventional, unheard of, unfamiliar, undescribed, unprecedented, unparalleled, unexampled, unconformably, except, unless, save barring, beside, without, save and except, let alone, however, yet, but, once in a blue moon, once in a million years, Int, what on earth!, what in the world!, What the devil!, Holy cow!, Can you top that?, Sacre bleu, never was seen the like, never was heard the like, never was known the like, I could hardly believe it, I saw it, but I didn't believe it.

Newness

N newness, novelty, recency, immaturity, youth, gloss of novelty, innovation, renovation, modernism, mushroom, parvenu, latest fashion, new, novel, recent, fresh, green, young, evergreen, raw, immature, unsettled, yeasty, virgin, untried, unhandseled, untrodden, untrod, unbeaten, fire-new, span-new, late, modern, neoteric, hypermodern, nouveau, new-born, nascent, neonatal, new-fashioned, new-fangled, new-fledged, of yesterday, just out, brand-new, up to date, up to the minute, with it, fashionable, in fashion, in, hip, vernal, renovated, sempervirent, sempervirid, fresh as a rose, fresh as a daisy, fresh as paint, spick and span, newly, afresh, anew, lately, just now, only yesterday, the other day, latterly, of late, not long ago, a short time ago, di novello tutto par bello, nullum est jam dictum quod non dictum est prius, una scopa nuova spazza bene.

Ignorance

N ignorance, nescience, tabula rasa, crass ignorance, ignorance crasse, unfamiliarity, unacquaintance, unconsciousness, darkness, blindness, incomprehension, inexperience, simplicity, unknown quantities, x, y, z, sealed book, terra incognita, virgin soil, unexplored ground, dark ages, smattering, sciolism, glimmering, dilettantism, bewilderment, incapacity, pedantry, charlatanry, charlatism, Philister, Philistine, ignorant, nescient, unknowing, unaware, unacquainted, unapprised, unapprized, unwitting, unweeting, unconscious, witless, weetless, a stranger to, unconversant, uninformed, uncultivated, unversed, uninstructed, untaught, uninitiated, untutored, unschooled, misguided, unenlightened, Philistine, behind the age, shallow, superficial, green, rude, empty, half-learned, illiterate, unread, uninformed, uneducated, unlearned, unlettered, unbookish, empty-headed, dizzy, wooly-headed, pedantic, in the dark, benighted, belated, blinded, blindfolded, hoodwinked, misinformed, au bout de son latin, at the end of his tether, at fault, at sea, caught tripping, unknown, unapprehended, unexplained, unascertained, uninvestigated, unexplored, unheard of, not perceived, concealed, novel, ignorantly, unawares, for anything, for aught one knows, not that one knows, Int, God knows, Heaven knows, the Lord knows, who knows, nobody knows, ignorance never settles a question, quantum animis erroris inest!, small Latin and less Greek, that unlettered small-knowing soul, there is no darkness but ignorance.