originalityn.
/əˌrɪdʒᵻˈnalᵻti/, U.S. /əˌrɪdʒəˈnælədi/ 1. The fact or quality of being primary, or produced at first hand; authenticity, genuineness.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [noun] > true character, genuineness
sincerity1611
reality1645
genuineness1647
originality1648
naturalness1656
undissembledness1681
legitimacy1695
genuinity1894
1648 R. Weldon Doctr. Script. 2 The Sacrilege of arrogating the Originality of the least particle of Power.
1742 H. Walpole Let. to H. Mann 14 July (1903) I. 256 It is one of the most engaging pictures I ever saw. I have no qualms about its originality.
1776 H. Swinburne Trav. Spain xliii. 397 One of the most valuable pictures in the world. I do not know how Amiconi came to doubt of its originality.
1881 B. F. Westcott & F. J. A. Hort New Test. in Orig. Greek II. Introd. i. 9 An unsafe guide in the discrimination of relative originality of text.
1961 C. Zigrosser in What is Original Print? (Print Council of America) 16 The concept of originality in prints and the value placed upon it have undergone many changes.
1999 Grovesnor House Art & Antiques Fair 1999 Handbk. 154/1 Originality of veneers, patination and good colour are particularly important to the serious collector.
2. As an attribute of persons: original thought or action; independent exercise of one's creative faculties; the power of originating new or fresh ideas or methods; inventiveness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > originality or non-imitation > [noun]
authenticalness1631
originality1742
firsthandness1884
first-handedness1890
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > inventive or creative faculty > [noun]
invention?a1505
imagination1509
wit-craft1573
inventa1605
contrivance1659
creativity1659
inventibility1662
inventiveness1668
originality1742
creativeness1805
constructiveness1815
construction1826
imagineering1942
1742 T. Gray Let. 24 May in Corr. (1971) I. 206 My Lady of Queensbury is come out against my Lady of Marlborough; & she has her Spirit too, & her Originality, but more of the Woman, I think, than t'other.
1787 J. Hawkins Life Johnson 269 Of singularity it may be observed, that, in general, it is originality; and therefore not a defect.
1822 W. Hazlitt Table-talk I. v. 103 Originality is the seeing nature differently from others, and yet as it is in itself.
1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe III. vi. 617 Shirley has no originality, no force in conceiving or delineating character.
1880 A. H. Huth Life & Writings H. T. Buckle I. iv. 218 Originality as understood by the vulgar is independence of the labours of others.
1921 Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Sept. 626/2 In the narrow life of cabotinage there is little scope for originality.
1988 S. Bellow Theft 39 She could make fashionable talk, she dressed with originality.
3.
a. The quality of being independent of and different from anything that has gone before; novelty or freshness of style or character, esp. in a work of art or literature.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > newness or novelty > [noun] > newness, freshness, or originality
noveltya1398
greenness1544
nap1591
verd1603
virginity1639
originalness1727
originality1782
freshness1807
verdurousness1856
unhackneyedness1884
1782 D. E. Baker Biogr. Dramatica I. 480/2 In the poetical as well as prose compositions of Young there is much originality, but little judgement.
1787 J. Hawkins Life Johnson 383 His [sc. Richardson's] sentiments were his own; and..he was so sensible..of the originality and importance of many of them, that he would ever be talking of his writings.
1818 S. T. Coleridge Friend (new ed.) III. vi. v. 160 No better remedy for the overweening self-complacency of modern philosophy, than the annulment of its pretended originality.
1861 M. Pattison in Westm. Rev. Apr. 403 These essays have a character of originality beyond their companions.
1883 P. Schaff et al. Relig. Encycl. II. 1204/1 Origen..urges the originality of the person of Christ.
1938 R. G. Collingwood Princ. Art i. iii. 43 Originality in art, meaning lack of resemblance to anything that has been done before, is sometimes nowadays regarded as an artistic merit.
1989 A. Cancogni tr. U. Eco Open Work v. 121 Aesthetic value doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the novelty of a technique—even though the latter is frequently the symptom of an originality of both thought and method on which art often thrives.
b. An original trait, action, idea, etc. Usually in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > newness or novelty > [noun] > newness, freshness, or originality > original trait, act, remark, etc.
originality1854
1808 Edinb. Rev. Apr. 12 137 After being dazzled and made giddy with the..obscure originalities of these new artists.
1841 W. H. Mill Observ. Applic. Pantheistic Princ. ii. 8 Our author's sagacity has effectually removed all such apparent originalities here.
1854 R. W. Emerson Quot. & Orig. in Lett. & Social Aims in Wks. (Bohn) III. 213 Whoso knows Plutarch, Lucian, Rabelais, Montaigne..will have a key to many supposed originalities.
1945 Pacific Affairs 18 40 The material success of the Japanese people in peace and war, their highly developed aesthetic sense and their engaging originalities.
1994 H. Bloom Western Canon ii. iv. 107 Chaucerian hints..are the starting points for the greatest of Shakespeare's originalities, his way of representing human personality.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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