original Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an original creation (i.e., an audio recording) from which copies can be made
    master; master copy.
  2. noun something that serves as a model or a basis for making copies
    archetype; pilot.
    • this painting is a copy of the original
  3. adjective satellite preceding all others in time or being as first made or performed
    • the original inhabitants of the Americas
    • the book still has its original binding
    • restored the house to its original condition
    • the original performance of the opera
    • the original cast
    • retracted his original statement
  4. adjective satellite (of e.g. information) not secondhand or by way of something intermediary
    • his work is based on only original, not secondary, sources
  5. adjective being or productive of something fresh and unusual; or being as first made or thought of
    • a truly original approach
    • with original music
    • an original mind
  6. adjective satellite not derived or copied or translated from something else; not an adaptation"
    • the play is original
    • he kept the original copy and gave her only a xerox
    • the translation misses much of the subtlety of the original French

WordNet

O*rig"i*nal adjective
Etymology
F. original, L. originalis.
Definitions
  1. Pertaining to the origin or beginning; preceding all others; first in order; primitive; primary; pristine; as, the original state of man; the original laws of a country; the original inventor of a process.
    His form had yet not lost All her original brightness. Milton.
    #sic. "her" refers to form, apparently considered feminine in gender.
  2. Not copied, imitated, or translated; new; fresh; genuine; as, an original thought; an original process; the original text of Scripture.
  3. Having the power to suggest new thoughts or combinations of thought; inventive; as, an original genius.
  4. Before unused or unknown; new; as, a book full of original matter.
O*rig"i*nal noun
Etymology
Cf. F. original.
Definitions
  1. Origin; commencement; source.
    It hath it original from much grief. Shak.
    And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim. Addison.
  2. That which precedes all others of its class; archetype; first copy; hence, an original work of art, manuscript, text, and the like, as distinguished from a copy, translation, etc.
    The Scriptures may be now read in their own original. Milton.
  3. An original thinker or writer; an originator. R.
    Men who are bad at copying, yet are good originals. C. G. Leland.
  4. A person of marked eccentricity. Colloq.
  5. (Zoöl. & Bot.) The natural or wild species from which a domesticated or cultivated variety has been derived; as, the wolf is thought by some to be the original of the dog, the blackthorn the original of the plum.

Webster 1913