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]

  • Audio (US)
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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, 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.
  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]

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Derived terms

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Translations[edit]

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 UK) 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.’

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

Statistics[edit]

External links[edit]

Old French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin nātūrālis.

Adjective[edit]

natural m (feminine natural)

  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

Related terms[edit]

Spanish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin nātūrālis.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

natural m, f (plural naturales)

  1. natural

Related terms[edit]

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