Novel Meaning
/ˈnɒvəl/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjNewly made, formed or evolved; having no precedent; of recent origin; new.
adjOriginal, especially in an interesting way; new and striking; not of the typical or ordinary type.
Sentence Examples
Have you finished reading the novel?
A novel idea occurred to me.
The following extract is taken from her new novel.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The researcher introduced a ____ method for purifying water, which was completely unlike any previous technique.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His latest ____ tells the story of an explorer searching for a lost city in the jungle.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English novel, from Old French novel (“new, fresh, recent, recently made or done, strange, rare”) (modern nouvel, nouveau), from Latin novellus (“new, fresh, young, modern”), diminutive of novus (“new”). Doublet of nouveau.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"If it be true, that the preſent age is more corrupt, than the preceding, the great multiplication of Novels has probably contributed to its degeneracy. Fifty years ago there was ſcarcely a Novel in the kingdom. Romances, indeed, abounded; but they, it is ſuppoſed, were rather favorable to virtue."
— 1800, Vicesimus Knox, “Essay XIV (On Novel reading)”, in Essays Moral and Literary, volume I, page 100:
"Since I had started to break down all my writing and get rid of all facility and try to make instead of describe, writing had been wonderful to do. But it was very difficult, and I did not know how I would ever write anything as long as a novel. It often took me a full morning of work to write a paragraph."
— 1964, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 151:
"merry tales[…]such as the old woman told of Psyche in Apuleius, Boccace novels, and the rest, quarum auditione pueri delectantur, senes narratione, which some delight to hear, some to tell, all are well pleased with."
— 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 2, member 4:
"Libum is a cake made of Honey (sugar is a nouvelle, since the discovery of America), meale and oyle."
— 1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 7:
"The normal and natural relationship of emperor and churchman was summed up by Justinian in one of his novels […]"
— 1979, Jeffrey Richards, The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages, 476–752, page 15:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The researcher introduced a ____ method for purifying water, which was completely unlike any previous technique.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His latest ____ tells the story of an explorer searching for a lost city in the jungle.