as in novella
a work with imaginary characters and events that is shorter and usually less complex than a novel
bought a collection of his novels and novelettes
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Recent Examples of novelette
Alfred Hitchcock turned one of Woolrich’s novelettes into Rear Window, for which Woolrich was paid the grand sum of $650.
—
Sam Kashner, Air Mail, 12 Apr. 2025
What began as an audio-only novelette (drawing on el-Mohtar’s own experience with the harp) has transformed into a novella with illustrations: In the town of Thistleford, Hawthorn sisters Esther and Ysabel raise their voices together to sing about everything from adventure to sadness.
—Natalie Zutter
january 2, Literary Hub, 2 Jan. 2025
The next year, Hao Jingfang became the first Chinese woman to win a Hugo, for her novelette Folding Beijing.
—Yi-Ling Liu, Wired, 9 Mar. 2021
Flash fiction, short stories, and novelettes don’t usually get the same amount of attention as their longer counterparts, which is a shame.
—Andrew Liptak, The Verge, 15 Nov. 2018
Graphic novelettes issued by the U.S. Army Cyber Institute aim to educate soldiers about digital threats
Stephen Cass
23 Mar 2018
3 min read
Stephen Cass is the special projects editor at IEEE Spectrum.
—IEEE Spectrum, 23 Mar. 2018
Sam Kashner, Air Mail, 12 Apr. 2025
What began as an audio-only novelette (drawing on el-Mohtar’s own experience with the harp) has transformed into a novella with illustrations: In the town of Thistleford, Hawthorn sisters Esther and Ysabel raise their voices together to sing about everything from adventure to sadness.
—Natalie Zutter
january 2, Literary Hub, 2 Jan. 2025
The next year, Hao Jingfang became the first Chinese woman to win a Hugo, for her novelette Folding Beijing.
—Yi-Ling Liu, Wired, 9 Mar. 2021
Flash fiction, short stories, and novelettes don’t usually get the same amount of attention as their longer counterparts, which is a shame.
—Andrew Liptak, The Verge, 15 Nov. 2018
Graphic novelettes issued by the U.S. Army Cyber Institute aim to educate soldiers about digital threats
Stephen Cass
23 Mar 2018
3 min read
Stephen Cass is the special projects editor at IEEE Spectrum.
—IEEE Spectrum, 23 Mar. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for novelette
Noun
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The opera, and the novella it is based on, were written in French.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
26 Apr. 2026
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The chiller is adapted from Elizabeth Engstrom’s cult 1980s novella of the same name.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
22 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The most obvious answer was that the story, on a deeper level, needed to be timeless, a tale of a desperate person facing moral dilemmas of increasing extremity while trying to hold fast to their values.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
1 May 2026
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The children participated in Disney+'s 2025 documentary Lost in the Jungle, which recounted their tale of survival, per The New York Times.—
Emily Blackwood,
PEOPLE,
1 May 2026
Noun
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Made in response to a difficult breakup, the work alludes to two lovers parting ways, but also to Pau’s memories of isolation as a severely asthmatic child in a notoriously polluted city, lying in bed staring at the wall and inventing stories to distract herself from the difficulty of breathing.—
Pauline J. Yao,
Artforum,
2 May 2026
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The $30 million, 28-story towers contained 3,000 rooms, an 18-hole rooftop miniature golf course complete with sand traps and its own hospital.—
Kori Rumore,
Chicago Tribune,
2 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Novelette.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/novelette. Accessed 3 May. 2026.
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