originality
Americannoun
-
the quality or state of being original.
- Synonyms:
- ingenuity, inventiveness, creativeness, cleverness
-
ability to think or express oneself in an independent and individual manner; creative ability.
-
freshness or novelty, as of an idea, method, or performance.
- Synonyms:
- creativeness, cleverness, ingenuity, inventiveness
noun
-
the quality or condition of being original
-
the ability to create or innovate
-
something original
Other Word Forms
- unoriginality noun
Etymology
Origin of originality
From the French word originalité, dating back to 1735–45. See original, -ity
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.
The book bristles with insight and originality, interspersing Vara’s more journalistic expositions with excurses and fragments curated from the author’s expansive digital life.
From Los Angeles Times
That it can’t touch us in the depths of our hearts is why it makes human originality more, not less, precious.
This jukebox musical imagines with unstinting originality a scenario in which the doomed heroine of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” doesn’t die at the end of the play.
From Los Angeles Times
Afghanistan’s internecine bloodshed has an epiphanic effect on the author: “When death stalks every door,” she writes in a burst of originality, “the only antidote is to live.”
Because she has a large family to shop for, she focuses on finding gently-used gifts that offer both quality and originality, knowing her relatives value the thoughtful strategy.
From MarketWatch
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.
