Word.ws English Dictionary

newell

/ˈnuːəl/

newell is the alternative form of newel.

Meaning of newel

Noun (1)

newel (plural newels)

  1. A central pillar around which some types of spiral staircase are spiralled.
    Synonyms:
    newel post, spindle
  2. A sturdy pillar at the top or bottom of a flight of stairs, supporting the handrail.
    • We went along the hall to the end and up a flight of stairs with a carved handrail and newel post.1943, Raymond Chandler, The High Window, Penguin, published 2005, page 238
    Synonyms:
    newel post

Noun (2)

newel (plural newels)

  1. (obsolete) A novelty; a new thing.
    • 1882: Edmund Spenser (Alexander Balloch Grosart, ed) The Complete Works in Verse and Prose of Edmund Spenser
      He was so enamoured with the newel.
    Synonyms:
    newie, new one, newun, new'un

Proper noun capitalized: Newell

Newell (countable and uncountable, plural Newells)

  1. A surname.
  2. An unincorporated community in Randolph County, Alabama, United States.
  3. A census-designated place in Modoc County, California, United States.
  4. A city and town in Buena Vista County, Iowa, United States.
  5. An unincorporated community in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States.
  6. An unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Ohio, United States.
  7. A borough of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States.
  8. A city and town in Butte County, South Dakota, United States.
  9. A census-designated place in Hancock County, West Virginia, United States.

Forms of newell

Noun
pluralnewells
Proper noun
pluralNewells
alternative formNewall

Origin of newell

Two main origins: * A variant of Neville or Noel. * Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Tnúthghail (“descendant of Tnúthgal”), a personal name composed by the elements tnúth (“desire; envy”) + gal (“valor”).

Words formed from newell

Phrases with newell

Questions about newell

What does newell mean?
Newell means a surname.
What is newell the alternative form of?
Newell is the alternative form of newel.
What part of speech is newell?
Newell is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce newell?
Newell is pronounced /ˈnuːəl/.

Words near newell in the dictionary

  1. newed up
  2. newel
  3. newel post
  4. newel posts
  5. neweled
  6. newell
  7. Newell teapot
  8. Newell teapots
  9. newelled
  10. newells
  11. newels

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: newell (page history and authors); Newell (page history and authors); newel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “newell.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/newell. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.