novella
Americannoun
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novellas,
plural
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novelle
plural
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a tale or short story of the type contained in the Decameron of Boccaccio.
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a fictional prose narrative that is longer and more complex than a short story; a short novel.
noun
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(formerly) a short narrative tale, esp a popular story having a moral or satirical point, such as those in Boccaccio's Decameron
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a short novel; novelette
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of novella
From Italian, dating back to 1900–05; see origin at novel 1
Compare meaning
How does novella compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Short novels are called novellas. If you don't want to write a novel, but have more to say than a short story, you could try writing a novella. You've surely heard of plays, poems, short stories, and novels. But novellas? They're not as well known, but pretty simple: nothing more than short novels. Sometimes novellas are called novelettes, but whatever you call them, you'll probably read a few in English class. Sometimes it's easier to squeeze in a novella than a whole novel, so maybe you could start with Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" or Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis."
Vocabulary lists containing novella
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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.
See Examples For:
Editora 34 publishing house told AFP that its sales of the novella, one of Dostoevsky's earliest works, had jumped 463 percent year-on-year.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
Canadian writer Brendon Holder, who writes a popular tech and culture newsletter called Loosey, got thousands of new followers after releasing a serialized novella called “Come If You Want” on Substack last summer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Based on his 1997 children’s novella, this economical piece of autofiction chronicles a life-changing cross-country flight in 1962 from Travolta’s childhood home in New Jersey to the sunny streets of Los Angeles.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
The first English-language edition of Trotzig’s 1964 novella “Queen”—one of the author’s greatest achievements—may help to fill that gap.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
Not since her week in Primrose Hill, typing out the novella, and what a foolish excitement that seemed now.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
The stories and novellas of Honoré de Balzac, Guy de Maupassant, Anton Chekhov and Robert Louis Stevenson have sustained me through dark and stormy nights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
These three novellas were written in the 1920s, after the fall of the empire, and in their baroque translation by John Batki they cast back upon bygone times with wistfulness, charm and winking humor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
Another spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, adapted from a series of novellas written by Martin, launched last month.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
Martin’s “Tales of Dunk and Egg” series of novellas, saw the hopeful hedge knight make some progress toward achieving his dreams.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2026
Separated but by half a century the cantos are the antipodes of the novellas.
From Historia Amoris: A History of Love, Ancient and Modern by Edgar Saltus
Included in the novel's 496-page sweep are three brilliant novelle: Ensign Woodbridge's encounter with the hypocritical missionaries, the story of the Irish monk and the satanic trader, Parker, and Seaman O'Connell on a berserk rampage.
From Time Magazine Archive
Most of his novelle read like summaries of novels,—setting forth an abstract synopsis of the action rather than a concrete representation of it.
From Materials and Methods of Fiction With an Introduction by Brander Matthews by Clayton Meeker Hamilton
They drew their material from all kinds of narrative sources, Italian novelle, current pamphlets, Latin historians, or English chronicles; and, whether historical or fictitious, were usually known as Histories, i.e., stories.
From The Facts About Shakespeare by William Allan Nielson
Very few of the novelle selected by Painter for translation depend for their attraction on mere naughtiness.
From The Palace of Pleasure, Volume 1 by William Painter
Another step in the realistic direction would have transformed all these religious myths into novelle; and then a new beauty, the beauty of the Decameron and Novellino, would have been shed upon them.
From Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature Part 1 (of 2) by John Addington Symonds
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