unoriginal

== English == === Etymology === From un- +‎ original. === Adjective === unoriginal (comparative more unoriginal, superlative most unoriginal) Lacking originality. 1758, William Hawkins, Tracts in Divinity, Oxford, Volume 2, Letter 12 [on Pope’ translations of Homer], pp. 418-419,[1] 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.” (rare) Not being the first or earliest version of something, not original. 1894, Joseph Jacobs (editor), More Celtic Fairy Tales, London: David Nutt, Notes and References, “The Leeching of Kayn’s Leg,” p. 232,[3] [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 […] (obsolete) Without an origin or source. ==== Synonyms ==== (lacking originality, referring to people): uncreative, unimaginative, uninventive (lacking originality, referring to things): clichéd, derivative, predictable, slavish See also Thesaurus:hackneyed ==== Derived terms ==== unoriginality unoriginally === Noun === unoriginal (plural unoriginals) A person or work that does not exhibit originality.