DictionaryAI

novelist

noun
SayNOV-uh-listUS/ˈnɑvəlɪst/UK/ˈnɒvəlɪst/

Pluralnovelists

2 meanings of novelist

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable
    An author who writes novels, that is, book-length works of prose fiction.

    The novelist drew on her own childhood to shape the central character.

    Several novelists gathered at the festival to discuss how they build a plot.

    Similarwriter, author

  2. 2
    nounobsolete
    A person who brings in new things or ideas, or who favors novelty.
    Note

    Here novel is the adjective meaning "new", not the book. Novel plus -ist once named a person drawn to the new. The meaning is now obsolete, and a modern reader will hear only the writer of fiction, so present-day prose should use innovator instead. When the word turns up in older texts, check the context before assuming a storyteller is meant.

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Origin

Formed from "novel" combined with the suffix "-ist".