| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  n , ny |
| ADJECTIVE: | Inflected forms: new·er, new·est
1. Having been made or come into being only a short time ago; recent: a new law. 2a. Still fresh: a new coat of paint. b. Never used or worn before now: a new car; a new hat. 3. Just found, discovered, or learned: new information. 4. Not previously experienced or encountered; novel or unfamiliar: ideas new to her. 5. Different from the former or the old: the new morality. 6. Recently obtained or acquired: new political power; new money. 7. Additional; further: new sources of energy. 8. Recently arrived or established in a place, position, or relationship: new neighbors; a new president. 9. Changed for the better; rejuvenated: The nap has made a new person of me. 10. Being the later or latest in a sequence: a new edition. 11. Currently fashionable: a new dance. 12. New In the most recent form, period, or development. 13. Inexperienced or unaccustomed: new at the job; new to the trials of parenthood. | | ADVERB: | Freshly; recently. Often used in combination: new-mown. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English newe, from Old English n we, n owe. See newo- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | new ness —NOUN
| | SYNONYMS: | new, fresh, novel2, newfangled, original These adjectives describe what has existed for only a short time, has only lately come into use, or has only recently arrived at a state or position, as of prominence: New is the most general: a new movie; a new friend. “It is time for a new generation of leadership, to cope with new problems and new opportunities” (John F. Kennedy). Something fresh has qualities of newness such as briskness, brightness, or purity: fresh footprints in the snow; fresh hope of discovering a vaccine. Novel applies to the new and strikingly unusual: “His sermons were considered bold in thought and novel in language” (Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence 1920.) Newfangled suggests that something is needlessly novel: “the newfangled doctrine of utility” (John Galt). Something that is original is novel and the first of its kind: “The science of pure mathematics, in its modern development, may claim to be the most original creation of the human spirit” (Alfred North Whitehead).
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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