original: Meaning and Definition of

o•rig•i•nal

Pronunciation: (u-rij'u-nl), [key]
— adj.
  1. belonging or pertaining to the origin or beginning of something, or to a thing at its beginning: The book still has its original binding.
  2. new; fresh; inventive; novel: an original way of advertising.
  3. arising or proceeding independently of anything else: an original view of history.
  4. capable of or given to thinking or acting in an independent, creative, or individual manner: an original thinker.
  5. created, undertaken, or presented for the first time: to give the original performance of a string quartet.
  6. being something from which a copy, a translation, or the like is made: The original document is in Washington.
—n.
  1. a primary form or type from which varieties are derived.
  2. an original work, writing, or the like, as opposed to any copy or imitation: The original of this is in the British Museum.
  3. the person or thing represented by a picture, description, etc.: The original is said to have been the painter's own house.
  4. a person whose ways of thinking or acting are original: In a field of brilliant technicians he is a true original.
  5. an eccentric person.
  6. a source of being; an author or originator.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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