novel
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
An extended fictional work in prose.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nahvuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈnɑvəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An extended fictional work in prose; usually in the form of a story
A work of prose fiction, longer than a novella.
adjective
Original, especially in an interesting way; new and striking; not of the typical or ordinary type.
Newly made, formed or evolved; having no precedent; of recent origin; new.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An extended fictional work in prose; usually in the form of a story
Used this way, novel is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use novel
- “His bookcases were filled with nothing but novels.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Novel in which the reader is challenged to solve a puzzle before the detective explains it at the end.
A melodramatic paperback novel.
Novel in which the reader is challenged to solve a puzzle before the detective explains it at the end.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.