Meaning & use
original
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Existing at the start or being the earliest form of something, before any change.
Grammar: Comes before the noun: the original plan, the original owner.
Patterns
- the original something
The original owner of the house planted these trees.
Please bring the original receipt.
The building has kept its original windows.
adjectivecomparable
New and different, not copied from anything else.
Grammar: Can follow be: the idea is original. It can also sit before a noun.
Patterns
- an original idea
- be original
Her essay offers an original view of the poem.
The play is completely original, not based on a book.
He is an original thinker.
adjectivebefore a noun
Genuine, made by the artist or creator rather than a copy.
Grammar: Used before nouns like painting or recording: an original painting.
Patterns
- an original painting
The museum owns an original painting by the artist.
I found an original vinyl record from 1975.
This is an original signature, not a stamp.
nouncountable
The first version of something from which copies or translations are made.
Grammar: Takes an article: the original; often in the original language.
Patterns
- in the original
- read something in the original
She keeps the original and gives out copies.
I prefer the film to the original.
He studied Russian to read the novel in the original.
Word forms
| plural | originals |
|---|
Common combinations
- original idea
- The team came up with an original idea for the festival.
- original version
- The original version was much shorter.
- original sin
- The story of original sin appears in Christian teaching.
- in the original
- The poem sounds better in the original.
- original work
- All entries must be original work.
- original copy
- Keep the original copy of the contract in a safe place.
Synonyms and how they differ
- initial
- Initial means first in order, while original stresses the earliest form or source.
- creative
- Creative describes the ability to make new things, and original describes the result being new.
- authentic
- Authentic means genuine and not fake, and original suggests the first or earliest version.
- innovative
- Innovative suggests new methods or products, but original suggests newness in thought or source.
Opposites
Word family
- originality noun
- the quality of being new and different
- originally adverb
- at the beginning
- originate verb
- to begin or come from
- origin noun
- the place or point something begins
- originator noun
- the person who first creates something
Commonly confused: original or originally?
original vs originally
Originally is an adverb meaning at first, and original is the adjective. Say the original plan, not the originally plan.
Practice
The art teacher praised her ____ design because nobody had seen anything like it before.
Choose one answer.
A noun like design needs the adjective original, meaning new and not copied. Originally is an adverb and cannot describe a noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “original”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.