1. a fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism: "the novels of Jane Austen"
▪ the literary genre represented or exemplified by novels:"the novel is the most adaptable of all literary forms"
Word Originmid 16th century: from Italian novella (storia) ‘new (story)’, feminine of novello ‘new’, from Latin novellus, from novus ‘new’. The word is also found from late Middle English until the 18th century in the sense ‘a novelty, a piece of news’, from Old French novelle (see novel2).
