novelty

From Middle English novelte, from Old French novelté (Modern French nouveauté), from the adjective novel, ultimately from Latin novellus.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑvəlti/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnɒvəlti/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: nov‧el‧ty

novelty (countable and uncountable, plural novelties)

1. The state of being new or novel; newness.
   • 2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     Men In Black 3 lacks the novelty of the first film, and its take on the late ’60s feels an awful lot like a psychedelic dress-up party, all broad caricatures and groovy vibes.

2. A new product; an innovation.
   • 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral., London: Oxford University Press, published 1973, § 10:

     Reconciling profound enquiry with clearness, and truth with novelty.

3. A small mass-produced trinket.
4. In novelty theory, newness, density of complexification, and dynamic change as opposed to static habituation.
5. (chess) An opening move played for the first time ever (in high-level chess).
   • 2007 May 27, Dylan Loeb Mcclain, “What Defines the Very Best? For Topalov, It's Fearlessness”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 2022-11-26:

     Topalov has unveiled some interesting novelties lately, but there was nothing unusual in his opening here. Sasikiran played the Nimzo-Indian, and Topalov replied with probably the most classical continuation.

   • 2012 December 18, Malcolm Pein, “Bundesliga chess revelation”, in The Daily Telegraph‎, archived from the original on 2023-02-05:

     It's not often a novelty comes as early as move seven nowadays, but in the latest round of the German Bundesliga, a recently discovered seventh move was employed to win a lovely game.

   • 2021 June 25, Leonard Barden, “Chess: Carlsen takes on No 1 junior, No 1 woman and No 1 rival on same afternoon”, in The Guardian‎, archived from the original on 2022-01-29:

     The Russian champion still did very well. Nepomniachtchi was only a wildcard, yet played with full force including an interesting novelty in the much analysed Berlin Wall Ruy Lopez.

novelty (not comparable)

1. In the design of a common household item, often impractically large, and meant primarily for display rather than functional use.

   My novelty calculator works fine but it hurts my hands to press the keys.

• novelty act
• novelty song
• novelty theory
• novelty value