Natural

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

• naturall obsolete

Origin

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

Full definition of natural

Adjective

1. That exists and evolved within the confines of an ecosystem.
• 2013-06-21, Karen McVeigh, US rules human genes can't be patented, The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.
2. The species will be under threat if its natural habitat is destroyed.
3. Of or relating to nature.
   In the natural world the fit tend to live on while the weak perish.
4. Without artificial additives.
   Natural food is healthier than processed food.
5. 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.
• AddisonWhat can be more natural than the circumstances in the behaviour of those women who had lost their husbands on this fatal day?
6. (music) Neither sharp nor flat. Denoted â™®.
   The piece is played in C natural.
7. (music) Produced by natural organs, such as those of the human throat, in distinction from instrumental music.
8. (music) Applied to an air or modulation of harmony which moves by easy and smooth transitions, digressing but little from the original key.
9. 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.
• Macaulaywith strong natural sense, and rare force of will
• 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 5, 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.
10. So-called second-generation w
11. Having the character or sentiments properly belonging to one's position; not unnatural in feelings.
• ShakespeareTo leave his wife, to leave his babes, ...
  He wants the natural touch.
12. (obsolete) Connected by the ties of consanguinity.
• J. H. Newmannatural friends
13. (obsolete) Born out of wedlock; illegitimate; bastard.a natural child
14. (of sexual intercourse) Without a condom.
    We made natural love.

Synonyms

• (as expected) inevitable, necessary, reasonable
• (without a condom)

Antonyms

• (exists in an ecosystem) aberrant, abnormal, artificial
• (as expected) aberrant, abnormal, freak, unexpected, unreasonable

Derived terms

Related terms

Noun

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 â™® 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.
5. (archaic) One with a simple mind; a fool or idiot.
• 1597, , 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.’