Meaning of original in English

original

adjective

/əˈrɪdʒ.ən.əl/ us

/əˈrɪdʒ.ən.əl/

original adjective (FIRST MADE)

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B1 [ usually before noun ]

existing since the beginning, or being the earliest form of something:

Is this the original fireplace?

The gardens have recently been restored to their original glory.

B2 [ usually before noun ]

An original piece of work, such as a painting, etc. is produced by the artist and not a copy:

an original drawing/manuscript

Is this an original Rembrandt? (= Was it painted by him?)

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We agreed to look afresh at her original proposal.
This is a daring new film by one of our most original modern directors.
My original statement has been completely distorted by the media.
Researchers tried many times to replicate the original experiment.
I'd like to steer our discussion back to our original topic.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

First and firstly

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original adjective (DIFFERENT)

B1 approving

not the same as anything or anyone else and therefore special and interesting:

original ideas/suggestions/work

She's a highly original young designer.

Opposite

unoriginal

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good or important because of unusual qualities

specialAre you doing anything special for your birthday?
exceptionalTheir standard of acting was very high but there was one exceptional performance.
outstandingHe accepted an award for outstanding achievement in baseball.
extraordinaryHer capacity to remember things is extraordinary.
deluxeThe salesman tried to sell us the deluxe model.

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recently appeared, arrived, or developed

newI bought a new suit for my interview.
brand newThe company unveiled a brand new product this week.
novelThat's a novel way of approaching the problem.
novelThe bank has introduced a novel way of detecting fraud.
innovativeThe project uses innovative ideas for recycling.

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New

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original

noun [ C ]

/əˈrɪdʒ.ən.əl/ us

/əˈrɪdʒ.ən.əl/

the first one made and not a copy:

Can you give me the original of your report? I can't read this copy.

a piece of work by a famous artist or designer and not a copy by someone else:

If the painting is an original, it will be very valuable.

in the original

If you read something in the original, you read it in the language in which it was first written:

As part of his studies, he read Homer in the original.

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This painting is only a copy - the original hangs in the Louvre.
This watch may be a counterfeit, but it looks just like the original.
The new version is worse in every respect - I much preferred the original.
The new version of the program comes with a much better user interface than the original.
It's an original, not one of those imitation jobs.

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The visual arts in general

(Definition of original from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

original | American Dictionary

original

noun [ C ]

/əˈrɪdʒ·ə·nəl/

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the first one made and not a copy:

Send a copy of your receipt, but keep the original.

An original is also a piece of work by an artist or designer and not a copy by someone else.

Someone who is an original behaves or speaks in a way that is not like other people.

original

adjective [ not gradable ]

/əˈrɪdʒ·ə·nəl/

in the earliest form of something, or in the form that existed at the beginning:

The original plans have been changed.

Original can also mean different from anything or anyone else and therefore new and interesting:

Our teacher said we’d better come up with something original.

An original piece of work, such as a painting or drawing, is produced by the artist or writer and is not a copy.

(Definition of original from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

original | Business English

original

adjective

/əˈrɪdʒənəl/ us

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spoken, written, or existing first:

The final cost was much greater than the contractor's original estimate.

We have more than doubled our original investment.

His original plan was to stay two to three years, but he loved the job so much that he has never left.

Please do not send original documents with your application.

not the same as anything or anyone else and for that reason special and interesting:

original idea/suggestion, etc. We need some original ideas that will increase sales.

She's a highly original young designer.

original

noun [ C ]

/əˈrɪdʒənəl/ us

the first one made and not a copy:

Can you let me have the original of your report?

Sign the original and return it to us, keeping the copy for your records.

The new version is worse in every respect - I much preferred the original.

(Definition of original from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of original

original

The substitute and transposed arias are inserted into the score after the originals and are cued in with ' altra'.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

From an algorithmic point of view, dictionary based text rewriting is complicated by the fact that occurrences of originals in a text may overlap.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

At least at first, the resurrection counterparts are very similar to their earthly originals.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

One way to give them more natural lives is to give them lives that are more similar to the lives of their earthly originals.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Read this book to get a multitude of flavours of the period : but go to the originals rather than quote it extensively.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Basically this means that there is a preference for replacing originals that start first in the natural (left-to-right) reading order.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

While the early music practice aims at faithful reproduction of historical originals, some ethnomusicological approaches aim at recreating local settings.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In addition to the 12 core events, 24 events were created that differed systematically from the originals.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, even the most perfect reproduction lacks the unicity of the original's presence at the place where it dwells.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Dictionarybased text rewriting simply means to replace occurrences of originals in an input text by their corresponding substitutes.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The verbal description and the hand gesture in relation to the originals elaborate each other.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In excerpts (1) and (2), the customers have their originals ready for referring before they produce the reference.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Customers provide some of the raw materials, the "originals," and specify the services to be performed on them.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The customer requests copies of this (line 01) and rotates a stack of originals to face the employee (line 02).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Unfortunately, her discussion fails to contribute any understanding beyond what graduate students might get from simply reading these originals.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of original?

B1,B2,B1,B2,B2