o|rig´i|nal|ness

o|rig|i|nal «uh RIHJ uh nuhl», adjective, noun.

–adj.

1. belonging to the beginning; first; earliest: »

The Dutch were the original settlers of New York. The hat has been marked down from its original price. Which is the original error?

SYNONYM(S): initial.

2. new; fresh; novel: »

It is hard to plan original games for a party.

3. able to do, make, or think something new; inventive: »

a very original writer. Edison had an original mind.

4. not copied, imitated, or translated from something else; firsthand: »

She wrote an original poem.

–n.

1. a thing from which another is copied, imitated, or translated: »

The original of this painting is in Rome.

2. a new written work, picture, or sculpture that is not a copy or imitation.

3. the language in which a book was first written: »

Our minister can read the Bible in the original.

SYNONYM(S): creative, ingenious.

4. Figurative. an unusual person; odd person: »

Teufelsdröckh passed…as one of those originals and nondescripts, more frequent in German universities than elsewhere (Thomas Carlyle).

5. a person who acts or thinks in an original way.

6. Archaic. origin; source.

–o|rig´i|nal|ness, noun.