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original

adjectivenouncommon in dialogue

  • Australia//əˈɹɪd͡ʒ.ɪ.nəl//
  • Australia//əˈɹɪd͡ʒ.ə.nəl//
  • Australia//əˈɹɪd͡ʒ.nəl//
  • New Zealand//əˈɹəd͡ʒ.ə.nəl//
  • New Zealand//əˈɹəd͡ʒ.nəl//

Relating to the origin or beginning; preceding all others.

adjective

  1. 1

    Relating to the origin or beginning; preceding all others.

    the original state of mankind; the original laws of a country; the original inventor of a process

    The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.

  2. 2

    First in a series of copies or versions.

    The original manuscript contained spelling errors which were fixed in later versions.

    This recording is by the original broadway cast.

    The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway,[…].

  3. 3

    Newly created.

    Tonight we will hear an original work by one of our best composers.

  4. 4

    Fresh, different.

    The paper contains a number of original ideas about color perception.

    Devoid of context, the image is intriguing, promising something utterly original and deeply fucked up.

  5. 5

    Pioneering.

    Parker was one of the original bebop players.

  6. 6

    Having a specified place or time as its origin.

    This kind of barbecue is original to North Carolina.

  7. 7

    Unseasoned, unflavored, plain, or having a standard or typical flavor; classic, traditional

Etymology

From Middle English original, from Old French original, from Late Latin orīginālis (“primitive, original”), from Latin orīgō (“beginning, source, origin”), equivalent to origin + -al; see origin.

noun

  1. 1

    An object or other creation (e.g. narrative work) from which all later copies and variations are derived.

    This manuscript is the original.

    Promontory's "last spike" ceremony was so significant to the USA's history that it is still regularly re-enacted today, using replica locomotives that nose up to each other just as the originals did.

  2. 2

    A person with a unique and interesting personality or creative talent.

    I have a great mind to be in Print; but above all, I would fain be an Original, and that is a true Comical Thought: When all the Learned Men in the World are but Tranſlators, is it not a Pleaſant Jeſt, that you ſhould ſtrive to be an Original! You ſhould have obſerved your Time, and have come into the World with the Ancient Greeks for that purpoſe; for the Latines themſelves are but Copies.

    Ahmad (1969) studied the personality differences among middle school girls identified as originals and unoriginals on the Minnesota's test of creative thinking.

    The originals or the creatives were more dominant than the unoriginals or the low creatives.

  3. 3

    archaicAn eccentric person.

    ‘Are you an alienist?’ I interrupted. ‘Every doctor should be - a little,’ answered that original, imperturbably.

  4. 4

    A newly designed garment released by a fashion designer as part of a collection.

    Fashion Fair will give every section first hand knowledge of the latest originals and 1962-63's exciting trends.

    One such show was built around the Du Pont spring collection of Paris originals.

  5. 5

    A ridgeling.

Forms

plural
originals
comparative
more original
superlative
most original
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).