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natural definition

natu·ral (nac̸h′ər əl, nac̸h′rəl)

adjective

  1. of or arising from nature; in accordance with what is found or expected in nature
  2. produced or existing in nature; not artificial or manufactured
  3. dealing with nature as an object of study a natural science
  4. in a state provided by nature, without man-made changes; wild; uncultivated
  5. of the real or physical world as distinguished from a spiritual, intellectual, or imaginary world
    1. present by virtue of nature; innate; not acquired
    2. having certain qualities, abilities, etc. innately a natural comedian
  7. innately felt to be right; based on instinctive moral feeling natural rights
  8. true to nature; lifelike a natural likeness
  9. normal or usual; in the ordinary course of events a natural outcome
  10. customarily expected or accepted a natural courtesy
  11. free from affectation or artificiality; at ease a natural smile
  12. without a legal relationship; specif.,
    1. illegitimate a natural child
    2. relating biologically rather than by adoption natural parents
  13. with little or no processing, artificial ingredients or preservatives natural food
  14. off-white, light-beige, etc.
  15. resulting from age, disease, etc. rather than an accident, violence, etc. a natural death, death from natural causes
  16. Biol. designating or of a system of classification based on complete structure and characteristics
  17. Math.
    1. designating or of an integer or any number referred to 1 as the base
    2. designating or of an actual number as distinguished from its logarithm a natural sine, cosine, etc.
  18. Music
    1. without flats or sharps, as the key of C major
    2. modified in pitch by the sign (♮)
    3. neither sharped nor flatted

Etymology: OFr < L naturalis, by birth, according to nature

noun

  1. a person without normal intelligence; fool; idiot
  2. Informal a person who is or seems to be naturally expert
  3. ☆ Informal a thing that is, or promises to be, immediately successful
  4. ☆ Informal a winning roll of 7 or 11 on a first throw in craps
  5. Music
    1. a sign (♮) used to remove the effect of a preceding sharp or flat within the measure in which it occurs
      in full, natural sign
    2. the note so changed
    3. a white key on a piano

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:

idioms natural idiom

natural Synonyms

natural

modif.

  1. Rooted in nature

    intrinsic, original, essential, true, fundamental, inborn, ingrained, inherent, instinctive, implanted, innate, inbred, subjective, inherited, congenital, genetic, incarnate, bred in the bone; see also native 1.

    Antonyms foreign*, alien*, acquired. *

  2. To be expected

    normal, typical, characteristic, usual, customary, habitual, accustomed, involuntary, spontaneous, uncontrolled, uncontrollable, wonted, familiar, expected, routine, regular, common, universal, prevailing, prevalent, general, uniform, constant, consistent, probable, predictable, ordinary, logical, reasonable, anticipated, looked for, hoped for, counted on, relied on, generally occurring, in the natural course of events, matter-of-course; see also regular 3.

    Antonyms unusual*, unexpected*, unheard of. *

  3. Not affected

    ingenuous, simple, artless, innocent, spontaneous, impulsive, childlike, unfeigned, unaffected, open, frank, candid, unsophisticated, homey, unpretentious, forthright, sincere, unstudied, straightforward, undesigning, being oneself, unsuspecting, credulous, trusting, plain, unassumed, direct, unpolished, rustic; see also naive.

    Antonyms ornate* pretentious, affected.

  4. Concerning the physical universe

    actual, tangible, according to nature; see physical 1, real. See syn. study at normal.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

natural Usage Examples

Possessives

  • disaster: The problem today Drought and other ' natural ' disasters are often wrongly blamed for causing famines.

Modifying Another Word

  • perfectly: Her friends told her she was worrying unnecessarily, a perfectly natural reaction for a new mom.

Infinitive complement

  • suppose: It would be natural to suppose that the village priest was not a good one and had carried out the ritual incorrectly.

Modifies a noun

  • beauty: A ) Marvel at the natural beauty of the universe.

Used with adjective complement

  • seem: Seems very very natural, not at all forced.
natural usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

natural quotes

Day by day natural science accumulates new riches† The true system of the World has been recognized, developed and perfected† Everything has been discussed and analyzed, or at least mentioned.

-Alembert,Jean le Rond d'

La femme est naturelle, c'est-a'  -dire abominable. Woman is natural, that is, abominable.

-Baudelaire, Charles

Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptable rights, rhetorical nonsenseönonsense upon stilts.

-Bentham,Jeremy

natural quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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"natural." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 3 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/natural>

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natural. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 3rd, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/natural

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