Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Preceding all others in time; first.
- adjective Not derived from something else; fresh and unusual.
- adjective Showing a marked departure from previous practice; new: synonym: new.
- adjective Productive of new things or new ideas; inventive.
- adjective Being the source from which a copy, reproduction, or translation is made.
- noun A first form or model from which others are made or developed.
- noun An authentic work of art.
- noun A work that has been composed firsthand or used to make a copy, reproduction, or translation.
- noun A person with a creative or unusual personality.
- noun A person who is appealingly odd or curious; a character.
- noun Archaic The source from which something arises; an originator.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In geology, noting those constituent minerals of an igneous rock which have crystallized from fusion during the period of consolidation: contrasted with secondary, which describes a mineral produced by alteration or decay.
- Pertaining to the origin or beginning; initial; primal; first in order; preceding all others: as, the original state in which man was created; the original edition of a book.
- Pertaining to or characteristic of the first or earliest stage or state of anything; first or earlier as opposed to later; primeval; primitive; pristine.
- Having the power to initiate or suggest new thoughts or combinations of thought; creative, as author, artist, philosopher, etc.: as, an original genius.
- Produced directly by an author, artist, or authority; not copied, imitated, translated, or transcribed: as, the original document; the original Greek text; the original painting.
- Hence Fresh; novel; new; striking; never before thought of or used: as, an original idea or plan; an original invention.
- Abbreviated orig.
- Inventive, creative.
- noun Origin; source; starting-point; first issue; beginning.
- noun Hence Parentage; ancestry; pedigree; descent; derivation; extraction; birth.
- noun That from which anything is derived; source of being or existence; cause; occasion.
- noun A primary stock or type from which varieties have been developed: as, the dhole of India is supposed to have been the original of the dog.
- noun Earliest condition; primal or primitive state; pristine condition, resources, etc.
- noun First form; archetype; that which is copied, imitated, transcribed, or translated.
- noun A work of art as first produced, and contradistinguished from a replica or duplicate made by the artist himself, and from a copy, mechanical reproduction, or imitation.
- noun A writing, document, or literary production, as distinguished from a transcription, paraphrase, modernization, or translation; also, the language in which a work was first composed.
- noun A person who produces a novel and unique impression; a person of marked individuality of character; an eccentric person; an oddity.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Pertaining to the origin or beginning; preceding all others; first in order; primitive; primary; pristine
- adjective Not copied, imitated, or translated; new; fresh; genuine
- adjective Having the power to suggest new thoughts or combinations of thought; inventive.
- adjective Before unused or unknown; new.
- adjective (Theol.) the first sin of Adam, as related to its consequences to his descendants of the human race; -- called also
total depravity . SeeCalvinism . - noun Origin; commencement; source.
- noun That which precedes all others of its class; archetype; first copy; hence, an original work of art, manuscript, text, and the like, as distinguished from a copy, translation, etc.
- noun rare An original thinker or writer; an originator.
- noun colloq. A person of marked eccentricity.
- noun (Zoöl. & Bot.) The natural or wild species from which a domesticated or cultivated variety has been derived.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective not comparable First in a series or copies/versions
- adjective not comparable Newly created
- adjective comparable Fresh, different
- adjective not comparable Pioneering
- adjective not comparable Having as its origin
- noun An object or other creation (e.g. narrative work) from which all later copies and variations are derived
- noun A person with a unique and interesting personality and/or creative talent
- noun archaic An
eccentric
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective (of e.g. information) not secondhand or by way of something intermediary
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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_Nouns_, or the names of the objects of our perceptions, doubtless constituted the original class of words; (if I may be allowed to assume such a hypothesis as an _original_ class of words;) but the ever-active principle of association, soon transformed nouns into verbs, by making them, when employed in a particular manner, expressive of affirmation.
English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Samuel Kirkham
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Her composition was a good example of what a silly child, with an even sillier mother could do, in the way of original work, for surely the essay was _original_.
Princess Polly's Gay Winter Amy Brooks
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Hence that admirable writer postulates some terrible original calamity; and thus the hateful doctrine, theologically called original sin, becomes to him almost as certain as that the world exists, and as the existence of God.
The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi Richard Francis Burton 1855
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The Latin original translates as: ‘Mine is a heart that scorns the light, and believes that the glory that you strive for is cheaply bought with life’.
Letter 33 1644
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Hollywood, where the term original idea is an oxymoron, is developing at least six movies about ...
Hasid Trip 2008
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With modern design, the term "original" can be a bit tricky, especially if the piece in question is still being produced and sold in the current marketplace.
The Seattle Times 2011
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The title original for this post was "BLOODY HELL!", but I thought … it's not that nice.
Spiritual Garden 2009
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And although the original is a classic in many ways, one thing it definitely lacked was some actually cool martial arts.
Early Buzz: Peter’s Mixed Thoughts on The Karate Kid | /Film 2010
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Seems the best way to keep the spirit. jackieboi the original is a classic. can't be topped, at least not with those hacks ... i think ill redbox dear john when this comes out.
Escape From New York Remake: Now With Less Destruction? | /Film 2010
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"Notes on Robert Frost," which fill about two thousand pages of typescript; the original is at the University of Virginia, but there's a good copy at Dartmouth, which is where I read them.
moore4th commented on the word original
a fresh frot from the gardin
February 15, 2007
whichbe commented on the word original
A contranym: it means both old and unchanging ("the original flavor"), and something creative or new ("an original idea").
May 15, 2008