de novo
Americanadverb
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anew; afresh; again; from the beginning.
We reviewed the court’s decision de novo during the rehearing.
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independently of external forces; from within; spontaneously.
Mutations associated with autism often occur de novo rather than through inheritance.
adjective
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occurring or arising spontaneously or independently of external forces; spontaneous: de novo synthesis of steroids from cholesterol.
de novo mutations;
de novo synthesis of steroids from cholesterol.
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made from scratch rather than developed from or based on something preexisting, and hence new, novel, or of a new type: de novo banks.
de novo protein design;
de novo banks.
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De Novo, noting or related to a type of FDA classification allowing novel medical devices with no precedent on the market to be sold: De Novo classification.
a De Novo request;
De Novo classification.
adverb
Etymology
Origin of de novo
First recorded in 1620–30; from Latin dē novō “anew, afresh, again”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Interest in DGAT2 has grown because the enzyme plays a major role in de novo lipogenesis, the process the body uses to create fat in the liver.
From Science Daily ● May 27, 2026
AI for the quantitative world is something else entirely, focusing on creating novel medical treatments, de novo material science, and advanced risk management and portfolio construction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026
"These de novo or reference-guided assemblers are pretty well-established tools that entail a whole operational pipeline with repeat detection or structural variants' identification being just some of their functionalities," Segarra said.
From Science Daily ● May 7, 2024
“Currently … it goes through a de novo review before an administrative law judge, which means a new body of records is created,” she explains.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 28, 2023
Writing has evolved de novo only a few times in human history, in areas that had been the earliest sites of the rise of food production in their respective regions.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
