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novelist

/ˈnɑvələst/
/ˈnɒvelɪst/
IPA guide

Other forms: novelists

Someone who writes fictional books is a novelist. If your favorite novelist is Stephen King, it means you're a fan of the horror genre.

When someone writes a novel, a book-length, made-up story, they can describe themselves as a novelist. Some novelists also write non-fiction, poetry, or short stories, and you can also simply call them a "writer" or an "author." Novelist was coined to mean "fiction writer" in the 1720s from novel, though the word existed earlier with several different meanings, including "news-carrier" and "innovator."

Definitions of novelist
  1. noun
    one who writes novels
    see moresee less
    examples:
    James Agee
    United States novelist (1909-1955)
    Louisa May Alcott
    United States novelist noted for children's books (1832-1888)
    Honore de Balzac
    French novelist; he portrays the complexity of 19th century French society (1799-1850)
    William Cuthbert Faulkner
    United States novelist (originally Falkner) who wrote about people in the southern United States (1897-1962)
    Jean Genet
    French writer of novels and dramas for the theater of the absurd (1910-1986)
    Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux
    French novelist and dramatist whose plays were reinterpretations of Greek myths (1882-1944)
    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
    German poet and novelist and dramatist who lived in Weimar (1749-1832)
    Victor-Marie Hugo
    French poet and novelist and dramatist; leader of the romantic movement in France (1802-1885)
    George Meredith
    English novelist and poet (1828-1909)
    Luigi Pirandello
    Italian novelist and playwright (1867-1936)
    Marcel Proust
    French novelist (1871-1922)
    Emile Zola
    French novelist and critic; defender of Dreyfus (1840-1902)
    type of:
    author, writer
    a person who writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
Pronunciation
US
/ˈnɑvələst/
UK
/ˈnɒvelɪst/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘novelist'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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