natural

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English[edit]

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Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Old French, from Latin nātūrālis, from nātus, the perfect participle of nāscor (“I am born”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈnæt͡ʃ.ə.ɹəl/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)

Adjective[edit]

natural (comparative more natural, superlative most natural)

  1. That exists and evolved within the confines of an ecosystem.
    The species will be under threat if its natural habitat is destroyed.
  2. Of or relating to nature.
    In the natural world the fit tend to live on while the weak perish.
  3. Without artificial additives.
    Natural food is healthier than processed food.
  4. As expected; reasonable.
    It's natural for business to be slow on Tuesdays.
    His prison sentence was the natural consequence of a life of crime.
    • Addison
      What can be more natural than the circumstances in the behaviour of those women who had lost their husbands on this fatal day?
  5. (music) Neither sharp nor flat. Denoted ♮.
    The piece is played in C natural.
  6. (music) Produced by natural organs, such as those of the human throat, in distinction from instrumental music.
  7. (music) Applied to an air or modulation of harmony which moves by easy and smooth transitions, digressing but little from the original key.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Moore (Encyc. of Music) to this entry?)
  8. Without, or prior to, modification or adjustment.
    the natural motion of a gravitating body
    The chairs were all natural oak but the table had a lurid finish.
    • Macaulay
      with strong natural sense, and rare force of will
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess[1]:
      Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.
    So-called second-generation silicone breast implants looked and felt more like the natural breast.
    1. (dice games) The result of a dice roll before bonuses or penalties are added to or subtracted from the result.
  9. Having the character or sentiments properly belonging to one's position; not unnatural in feelings.
    • Shakespeare
      To leave his wife, to leave his babes, […] / He wants the natural touch.
  10. (obsolete) Connected by the ties of consanguinity.
    • J. H. Newman
      natural friends
  11. (obsolete) Born out of wedlock; illegitimate; bastard.
    a natural child
  12. (of sexual intercourse) Without a condom.
    We made natural love.

Synonyms[edit]

Antonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from natural

Related terms[edit]

Related terms

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun[edit]

natural (plural naturals)

  1. (now rare) A native inhabitant of a place, country etc. [from 16th c.]
    • 1615, Ralph Hamor, A True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia, Richmond 1957, page 3:
      I coniecture and assure my selfe that yee cannot be ignorant by what meanes this peace hath bin thus happily both for our proceedings and the welfare of the Naturals concluded [...].
  2. (music) A note that is not or is no longer to be modified by an accidental, or the symbol ♮ used to indicate such a note. [from 17th c.]
  3. One with an innate talent at or for something. [from 18th c.]
    He's a natural on the saxophone.
  4. An almost white colour, with tints of grey, yellow or brown; originally that of natural fabric. [from 20th c.]
    natural colour:    
  5. (archaic) One with a simple mind; a fool or idiot.
    • 1597, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare, Act 2 Scene 4
      (Mercutio) [...] this drivelling love is like a great natural, / that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole.
  6. (colloquial, chiefly Britain) One's natural life.
    • 1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage 2014, page 155:
      ‘Sergeant-Major Robinson came in in the middle of it, and you've never seen a man look more surprised in your natural.’
  7. (African American Vernacular) A hairstyle for people with afro-textured hair in which the hair is not straightened or otherwise treated.
    • 2002, Maxine Leeds Craig, Ain't I a Beauty Queen?: Black Women, Beauty, and the Politics of Race, Oxford University Press (ISBN 9780199881673)
      Chinosole, who stopped straightening her hair and cut it into a natural while at a predominantly white college, was quite uneasy with the style
    • 2012, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the African American Soul: Celebrating and Sharing Our Culture One Story at a Time, Simon and Schuster (ISBN 9781453279953)
      I wanted to do it for so long — throw out my chemically relaxed hair for a natural.
    • 2015, Carmen M. Cusack, HAIR AND JUSTICE: Sociolegal Significance of Hair in Criminal Justice, Constitutional Law, and Public Policy, Charles C Thomas Publisher (ISBN 9780398090968), page 155
      Third, it insinuates that black afro hairstyles (e.g., naturals) relate to African cultural heritage, which is largely untrue.
  8. (algebra) Closed under submodules, direct sums, and injective hulls.

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

Statistics[edit]

Most common English words before 1923 in Project Gutenberg: except · sound · didn't · #515: natural · laid · cold · led

Further reading[edit]

Catalan[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

natural m, f (masculine and feminine plural naturals)

  1. natural

Derived terms[edit]

Noun[edit]

natural m, f (plural naturals)

  1. native, natural (person who is native to a place)

Synonyms[edit]

Noun[edit]

natural m (plural naturals)

  1. nature (innate characteristics of a person)

Related terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Galician[edit]

Adjective[edit]

natural m, f (plural naturais)

  1. natural

Derived terms[edit]

Noun[edit]

natural m, f (plural naturais)

  1. native, natural

Synonyms[edit]

Noun 2[edit]

natural m (plural naturais)

  1. nature (innate characteristics of a person)

Related terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Old French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin nātūrālis.

Adjective[edit]

natural m (oblique and nominative feminine singular naturale)

  1. natural

Related terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Portuguese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Portuguese natural, from Latin nātūrālis.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

natural m, f (plural naturais, comparable)

  1. natural
  2. native of, from
    Sou natural de Lisboa. ― I'm from Lisbon.
  3. room-temperature (of liquids)
    Água natural ― Room-temperature water

Synonyms[edit]

Antonyms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Romanian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin nātūrālis.

Adjective[edit]

natural m, n (feminine singular naturală, masculine plural naturali, feminine and neuter plural naturale)

  1. natural

Spanish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin nātūrālis.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

natural m, f (plural naturales)

  1. natural

Related terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

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