Heller McAlpinLiesl Schillinger and Benjamin MoserBarry WilnerSociety for General MicrobiologyScott Travers
Did you know?
If someone tells you that you've come up with a novel idea or a novel interpretation of something, it's probably a compliment: not everyone is capable of original thinking. But not everything new is terribly worthwhile; a novelty, for example, is often a cute (or maybe just silly) little object that you might put on a display shelf in your house. It may seem surprising that the familiar noun novel is related as well. In the 14th century, Italian writers began writing collections of short tales, each of which they called a novella because it represented a new literary form; from this word, three centuries later, the English coined the noun novel.
Examples of novel in a Sentence
Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 6 Apr. 2026
One novel, one omnibus of nonfiction.
—Philip Martin, Arkansas Online, 6 Apr. 2026
Jerome Groopman, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2026
Netflix picked up the first two seasons of Sullivan’s Crossing two months later, introducing a broader audience to the show based on the best-selling novel series by Robyn Carr.
—Emily Blackwood, PEOPLE, 4 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for novel
Cite this Entry
“Novel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/novel. Accessed 8 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
novel
1 of 2 adjective
novel
2 of 2 noun
