What does unoriginal mean?
Unoriginal means Lacking originality..
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Pronunciation varies by accent · adjective
Lacking originality..
1758, William Hawkins, Tracts in Divinity, Oxford, Volume 2, Letter 12 [on Pope’ translations of Homer], pp. 418-419, Redundancies are as unoriginal as Insipidities, and the Spirit of an Author may be as much overwhelmed in Exuberance on the one Hand, as it evaporates in Frigidity on the other.
2008, André Brink, Other Lives, Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, “Mirror,” Chapter 8, p. 185, “Stories come from other stories.” “Then there is no originality anywhere.” “Does it matter? Perhaps our very idea of originality is overrated. And unoriginal.”
Originality is the one thing which unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of. They cannot see what it is to do for them: how should they?
“[…] Everything in its proper time and season,” he added, with the unoriginal man’s fondness for proverbial philosophy.
If you’re a writer, you will write a lot of unoriginal work before you write something original.
1894, Joseph Jacobs (editor), More Celtic Fairy Tales, London: David Nutt, Notes and References, “The Leeching of Kayn’s Leg,” p. 232, [This tale] occurs in an MS. of the fifteenth century in an obviously unoriginal form which shows that the story-teller did not appreciate the significance of many features in the folk-tale he was retelling […]
[I] plung’d in the womb Of unoriginal Night and Chaos wilde,
Ahmad (1969) studied the personality differences among middle school girls identified as originals and unoriginals on the Minnesota's test of creative thinking.
Use unoriginal when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Unoriginal means Lacking originality..
Common synonyms include uncreative, unimaginative, uninventive, clichéd.
Possible antonyms include original.
1758, William Hawkins, Tracts in Divinity, Oxford, Volume 2, Letter 12 [on Pope’ translations of Homer], pp. 418-419, Redundancies are as unoriginal as Insipidities, and the Spirit of an Author may be as much overwhelmed in Exuberance on the one Hand, as it evaporates in Frigidity on the other.
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