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naturalistic Definition

natu·ral·is·tic (nac̸h′ər əl istik, nac̸h′rə lis-)

adjective

  1. of natural history or naturalists
  2. of or characterized by naturalism in any form
  3. in accordance with, or in imitation of, nature

naturalistic Related Forms

nat′u·ral·is·ti·cally adverb

naturalistic Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • fallacy: So the so-called naturalistic fallacy is no fallacy at all.
  • planting: A feature of all of those shown here was the naturalistic planting.
  • acting: The drama is well done with good, naturalistic acting.
  • explanation: All naturalistic explanations prove the miracle did not happen.
  • observation: She then contrasts these naturalistic observations with stylized fictional worlds.
  • dialog: Heaney's script is well written, juxtaposing lyrical poetry with hard-hitting naturalistic dialog.

Modifying Another Word

  • purely: The late dates and various authors assigned to the books allow for purely naturalistic sources.
  • highly: The Lady of Shalott was one of his first successes, capturing a romantic, dreamy mood in a highly naturalistic setting.
  • very: The planting was a successful mixture of native and cottage style planting, all done in a very naturalistic style.
  • not: They are deliberately not naturalistic in every detail but formal and stylized according to certain strict conventions.
  • completely: But on one level it works in a completely naturalistic sense.
  • incredibly: What was interesting was that you really had to be incredibly naturalistic.

Used with adjective complement

  • appear: The facial features have been modeled so as to appear naturalistic.
  • look: Each of these movements questioned the Renaissance assumption that paintings should look naturalistic.