novella

noun

no·​vel·​la nō-ˈve-lə 

plural novellas or novelle nō-ˈve-lē 

1

plural novelle : a story with a compact and pointed plot

2

plural novellas : a work of fiction intermediate in length and complexity between a short story and a novel

Synonyms

• narrative
• novelette
• short story
• story
• tale
• yarn

Examples of novella in a Sentence

pressed for time, many English teachers have their students read the one novella among the novelist's works

Recent Examples on the Web

The writer's new novella, available only in audio, is out now through Spotify Audiobooks Comments Like so many of us this year, romance novelist Ali Hazelwood couldn’t get enough of Luca Guadagnino’s tennis movie Challengers. —Carly Tagen-Dye, People.com, 1 Oct. 2024

Hyde is set in London, in a fictional world where the madman in Robert Louis Stevenson's influential Gothic horror novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde did not die, Negron said. —David Bloom, Forbes, 29 Sep. 2024

Zweig was a versatile writer, producing biographies, essays, plays, poems, short stories, novellas — an opera libretto for Richard Strauss (Die schweigsame Frau). —Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 30 Sep. 2024

In a letter to the judge, Ellison’s mother, professor Sara Fisher Ellison, wrote that Ellison has completed a romantic novella and is already at work on a follow-up. —Jane Thier, Fortune, 24 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Italian, "piece of news, announcement, story, narrative," noun derivative from feminine of novello "new," going back to Latin novellus "young, tender (of plants or animals)," from novus "new" + -ellus, diminutive suffix — more at new entry 1

First Known Use

1677, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

novella

noun

no·​vel·​la nō-ˈvel-ə 

: a work of fiction falling between a short story and a novel in length and complexity