Meanings
plural novelettes
- literatureA story longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella.
Nebula Awards® will be made in the following categories […] Novelette: at least 7,500 words but less than 17,500 words[…]
2023 December 1, Nebula Awards, “Nebula Rules”, in Nebula Awards website1 more example
Best novella was Nnedi Okorafor’s African-flavoured space opera Binti (Tor), while best novelette was Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken Liu.
2016 November 30, Adam Roberts, “The best SF and fantasy books of 2016”, in The Guardian - entertainmentA short piece of lyrical music, especially one for the piano.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA short novel, synonymous with novella.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*nu
- Proto-Indo-European*néwos
- Proto-Italic*nowos
- Latinnovus
- Latinnovellus
- Vulgar Latin*novella
- Italiannovella
- Englishnovel
- Englishnovelette
Translations
Finnish pitkänovelli
- pitkänovellishort novel
Polish nowela, romansidło
- nowelashort novel
- romansidłoshort novel
- powieścidłoshort novel
Spanish noveleta, novelita
- noveletashort novel
- novelitashort novel
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with novelette
Cite this entry
novelette. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/novelette
“novelette.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/novelette. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “novelette,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/novelette.
Source: novelette on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.