natural

Alternative forms

• naturall (obsolete)
• nat'ral (AAVE)

Etymology

From Middle English natural, borrowed from Old French natural, naturel, from Latin nātūrālis, from nātus, the perfect participle of nāscor (“be born”, verb). Displaced native Old English ġecynde. By surface analysis, nature +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• enPR: năchʹ(ə)rəl, IPA^(key): /ˈnæt͡ʃ(ə)ɹəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætʃəɹəl, -ætʃɹəl
• Hyphenation: nat‧u‧ral, natu‧ral

Adjective

natural (comparative more natural, superlative most natural)

1. Existing in nature.
   1. Existing in the nature of a person or thing; innate, not acquired or learned. [from 14th c.]
      • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, (please specify |part=I to IV):

        The natural Love of Life gave me some inward Motions of Joy.

      • 1858, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume II, Longman et al., page 419:

        With strong natural sense, and rare force of will, he found himself, when first his mind began to open, a fatherless and motherless child, the chief of a great but depressed and disheartened party, and the heir to vast and indefinite pretensions, which excited the dread and aversion of the oligarchy then supreme in the United Provinces.

      • 2019 July 10, The Guardian‎:

        A South African Uber driver is causing excitement with his impressive operatic singing but, however much natural talent you have, it is a long road to La Scala.

   2. Normally associated with a particular person or thing; inherently related to the nature of a thing or creature. [from 14th c.]

      The species will be under threat if its natural habitat is destroyed.

   3. As expected; reasonable, normal; naturally arising from the given circumstances. [from 14th c.]

      It's natural for business to be slow on Tuesdays.

      His prison sentence was the natural consequence of a life of crime.

      • 1711 May 25, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, The Spectator, volume I, number 74, page 333:

        What can be more natural or more moving than the circumſtances in which he deſcribes the behaviour of thoſe women who had loſt their huſbands on this fatal day ?

   4. Formed by nature; not manufactured or created by artificial processes. [from 15th c.]
      • 2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 10:

        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.

   5. Pertaining to death brought about by disease or old age, rather than by violence, accident etc. [from 16th c.]

      She died of natural causes.

      • 2015 June 5, The Guardian‎:

        Cancer patient David Paterson, 81, was close to a natural death when he was suffocated by Heather Davidson, 54, in the bedroom of his care home in North Yorkshire on 11 February.

   6. Having an innate ability to fill a given role or profession, or display a specified character. [from 16th c.]
      • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

        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.

   7. (mathematics)
      1. Designating a standard trigonometric function of an angle, as opposed to the logarithmic function. [from 17th c.]
      2. (algebra) Closed under submodules, direct sums, and injective hulls.
   8. (music) Neither sharp nor flat. Denoted ♮. [from 18th c.]

      There's a wrong note here: it should be C natural instead of C sharp.

   9. Containing no artificial or man-made additives; especially (of food) containing no colourings, flavourings or preservatives. [from 19th c.]

      Natural food is healthier than processed food.

   10. Pertaining to a decoration that preserves or enhances the appearance of the original material; not stained or artificially coloured. [from 19th c.]
   11. Pertaining to a fabric still in its undyed state, or to the colour of undyed fabric. [from 19th c.]
   12. (dice games) Pertaining to a dice roll before bonuses or penalties have been applied to the result.
   13. (bodybuilding) Not having used anabolic steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.

       Antonym: enhanced

   14. (bridge) Bidding in an intuitive way that reflects one's actual hand.

       Antonyms: artificial, conventional

2. Pertaining to birth or descent; native.
   1. Having a given status (especially of authority) by virtue of birth. [14th–19th c.]
      • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

        Whom should he follow but his naturall king.

      • 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC:

        I am thy creature, and I will be even mild and docile to my natural lord and king, if thou wilt also perform thy part, the which thou owest me.

   2. Related genetically but not legally to one's father; born out of wedlock, illegitimate. [from 15th c.]
      • 1790, Jane Austen, “Love and Freindship”, in Juvenilia:

        [M]y Mother was the natural Daughter of a Scotch Peer by an italian Opera-girl […] .

      • 1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Book III, chapter 26:

        Mrs Taft […] had got it into her head that Mr Lydgate was a natural son of Bulstrode's, a fact which seemed to justify her suspicions of evangelical laymen.

      • 1990, Roy Porter, English Society in the 18th Century, Penguin, published 1991, page 264:

        Dr Erasmus Darwin set up his two illegitimate daughters as the governesses of a school, noting that natural children often had happier (because less pretentious) upbringings than legitimate.

   3. Related by birth; genetically related. [from 16th c.]
      • 1843, John Henry Newman, “The Kingdom of the Saints”, in Parochial Sermons, 4th edition, volume II, J. G. F. & J. Rivington, pages 264–5:

        The first-born in every house, “from the first-born of the Pharaoh on the throne, to the first-born of the captive in the dungeon,” unaccountably found himself enlisted in the ranks of this new power, and estranged from his natural friends.

Noun

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, published 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. [from 17th c.]
3. (music) The symbol ♮ used to indicate such a natural note.
4. One with an innate talent at or for something. [from 18th c.]

   He's a natural on the saxophone.

5. An almost white colour, with tints of grey, yellow or brown; originally that of natural fabric. [from 20th c.]

   natural:  

6. (archaic) One with a simple mind; a fool or idiot.

   Synonym: half-natural

   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], page 62, column 1:

     Why is not this better now, then groning for Loue, now art thou ſociable, now art thou Romeo : now art thou what thou art, by Art as well as by Nature, for this driueling Loue is like a great Naturall, that runs lolling vp and downe to hid his bable in a hole.

   • 1633, A Banqvet of Jests: or, Change of Cheare. Being a collection, of Moderne Ieſts. Witty Ieeres. Pleaſant Taunts. Merry Tales. The Second Part newly publiſhed, page 30:

     A Noble-man tooke a great liking to a naturall, and had covenanted with his parents to take him from them and to keepe him for his pleaſure, and demanding of the Ideot if he would ſerve him, he made him this anſwere, My Father ſaith he, got me to be his foole of my mother, now if you long to have a foole; go & without doubt you may get one of your owne wife.

   • 1897, Stanley John Weyman, chapter XI, in Shrewsbury:

     "Why you are a natural! I thought you had learned something by this time.

7. (colloquial, chiefly UK) One's life.
   • 1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 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.’

8. (US, colloquial) 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:

     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:

     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, page 155:

     Third, it insinuates that black afro hairstyles (e.g., naturals) relate to African cultural heritage, which is largely untrue.

9. (slang, chiefly in plural) A breast which has not been modified by plastic surgery.
   • 1999 March 2, Mathew Alphonse Coppola, “Please rate these women...”, in rec.arts.movies.erotica‎ (Usenet), retrieved 2021-10-18:

     > Nina Hartley ¶ 2, unattractive, square "steriod^[sic] jaw", nice ass, FAKE breasts or small naturals, great sexual presence […] > Marilyn Monroe ¶ 7, decent body, medium NATURALS, stereotypical "godess^[sic]/playboy" blond/blue doesn't usually work for me, good sexual presence

   • 2002 August 19, Jon Eric, “Great Tit Debate.......”, in rec.arts.movies.erotica‎ (Usenet), retrieved 2021-10-18:

     She's [Eva/Mercedes] a brunette European with a curvy natural body with nice tits. For that matter, there are lots of women in Rocco [Siffredi]'s vids with nice naturals.

   • 2010 March 2, Miles Williams Mathis, “The Sexiest Women of the Screen: A Thinking Man's List”, in [personal website]‎, archived from the original on 2010-09-23:

     It isn't the big naturals on a little torso that do it for me, since that is not my thing.

   • 2016 October 26, Stephen Falk, “The Seventh Layer”, in Wendey Stanzler, director, You're the Worst, season 3, episode 9 (television production), spoken by Vernon Barbara (Todd Robert Anderson), via FXX:

     I’m really a good person with a good heart and I believe there is someone out there who will love me. Hopefully a Mexican hottie with big naturals.

10. (bodybuilding) Someone who has not used anabolic steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.

    Synonym: natty

    • 2010, Gregg Valentino, Nathan Jendrick, Death, Drugs, and Muscle:

      For so long I stayed natural because it was a sense of pride to me that as a natural I was still competing and beating guys who were juicing up.

11. (craps) A roll of two dice with a score of 7 or 11 on the comeout roll.

Adverb

natural (comparative more natural, superlative most natural)

1. (colloquial, dialect) Naturally; in a natural manner.
   • 2002, Daniel Shields, I Know Where the Horses Play, iUniverse, page 64:

     Dr. Watson, on the other hand, spoke natural.

   • 2005, Leo Bruce, Jack on the Gallows Tree: A Carolus Deene Mystery, Chicago: Chicago Review Press, page 124:

     "If the doctor hadn't been sure she was strangled you'd have sworn she died natural."

See also

• Appendix:Colors

References

• “natural”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “natural”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Adjective

natural (epicene, plural naturales)

1. natural

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin naturālis. First attested in the 14th century.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [nə.tuˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [na.tuˈɾal]

Adjective

natural m or f (masculine and feminine plural naturals)

1. natural

Noun

natural m or f by sense (plural naturals)

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

   Synonym: nadiu

Noun

natural m (plural naturals)

1. nature (innate characteristics of a person)

References

Further reading

• “natural” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “natural” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “natural” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese natural, borrowed from Latin naturalis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /natuˈɾal/ [na.t̪uˈɾɑɫ]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: na‧tu‧ral

Adjective

natural m or f (plural naturais)

1. natural

Noun

natural m or f by sense (plural naturais)

1. native, natural

   Synonym: nativo

Noun

natural m (plural naturais)

1. nature (innate characteristics of a person)

Etymology

Borrowed from English natural, from Middle English natural, from Old French natural, naturel, from Latin nātūrālis, from nātus, the perfect participle of nāscor (“be born”, verb).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na.ˈtu.ral/
• Rhymes: -ral
• Hyphenation: na‧tu‧ral

Adjective

natural

1. natural
   1. of or relating to nature.

      Synonym: alamiah

   2. formed by nature; not manufactured or created by artificial processes.

      Synonyms: alami, kodrati, asli

   3. pertaining to a decoration that preserves or enhances the appearance of the original material; not stained or artificially coloured.

Further reading

• “natural” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Etymology

Borrowed from English natural, from Middle English natural, from Old French natural, naturel, from Latin nātūrālis, from nātus, the perfect participle of nāscor (“be born”, verb).

Adjective

natural (Jawi spelling ناتورل)

1. natural

   Synonyms: alamiah, semulajadi

Noun

natural (Jawi spelling ناتورل, plural natural-natural, informal 1st possessive naturalku, 2nd possessive naturalmu, 3rd possessive naturalnya)

1. (music) natural: the symbol ♮ used to indicate such a natural note.

   Synonym: pugar (Indonesian)

2. nature

   Synonym: kelaziman

Further reading

• “natural” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian naturale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na.tuˈraːl/

Noun

natural m

1. natural disposition

Alternative forms

• naturel, naturalle, naturelle, naturell, naturall, naturill

Etymology

From Old French natural, from Latin nātūrālis; equivalent to nature +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /naːˈtiu̯ral/, /naːˈtiu̯rɛl/, /naˈtiu̯ral/, /naˈtiu̯rɛl/

Adjective

natural

1. intrinsic, fundamental, basic; relating to natural law.
2. natural (preexisting; present or due to nature):
   1. usual, regular (i.e. as found in nature)
   2. well; in good heath or condition.
   3. inherited; due to one's lineage.
   4. inborn; due to one's natural reasoning (rather than a deity's intervention)
3. Nourishing; healthful or beneficial to one's body.
4. Misbegotten; conceived outside of marriage
5. Correct, right, fitting.
6. Diligent in performing one's societal obligations.
7. (rare) Endemic, indigenous.
8. (rare) Bodily; relating to one's human form.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin nātūrālis.

Adjective

natural m (oblique and nominative feminine singular naturale)

1. natural
   • c. 1180, Chrétien de Troyes, Perceval ou le conte du Graal:

     si sanbla natural color.

     The color seemed so natural.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin nātūrāle(m).

Adjective

natural m or f (plural naturaes)

1. native (belonging to one by birth)
2. natural, normal (as expected)
3. (of a child) legitimate
4. kin (related by blood)

Noun

natural m or f by sense (plural naturaes)

1. native (person who is native to a place)
2. countryman, countrywoman (somebody from one's own country)

Descendants

• Galician: natural
• Portuguese: natural

Further reading

• Universo Cantigas - "natural₁"
• Universo Cantigas - "natural₂"

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /natyˈral/
• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

natural

1. natural

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese natural, borrowed from Latin nātūrālis.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: na‧tu‧ral

Adjective

natural m or f (plural naturais)

1. natural
2. native of, from

   Synonyms: originário, oriundo

   Sou natural de Lisboa. ― I'm from Lisbon.

3. room-temperature (of liquids)

   Antonym: fresco

   Água natural ― Room-temperature water

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin nātūrālis, French naturel, Italian naturale. By surface analysis, natură +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na.tuˈral/

Adjective

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

1. natural

Further reading

• natural in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin nātūrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /natuˈɾal/ [na.t̪uˈɾal]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: na‧tu‧ral

Adjective

natural m or f (masculine and feminine plural naturales)

1. natural (of or relating to nature)
2. native; indigenous
3. natural, plain (without artificial additives)

   En realidad prefiero yogur natural.

   I actually prefer plain yogurt.

4. natural (as expected; reasonable)

   Synonym: normal

5. Said about the lord that he has vassals, or that by his lineage, he has a right to lordship, even though he was not of the land.
6. (of a day) being a calendar day
7. (music) natural (neither sharp nor flat)
8. (of a child) illegitimate (born to unmarried parents)

   Synonym: ilegítimo

   Antonym: legítimo

9. (of a drink) room-temperature (neither heated nor chilled)
10. (bullfighting) Said about the pass of the red flag with the left hand without the sword
11. (Ecuador, euphemistic) native; indigenous (as called by the native Amerindians of Ecuador about themselves)
12. (Philippines, of a child) of indigenous parentage on both parents (unlike a mestizo)

Noun

natural m (plural naturales)

1. a native; a local; an indigenous person
2. (bullfighting) the pass of the red flag with the left hand without the sword
3. nature (genius, character, temperament, complexion, inclination of each)
4. instinct or inclination of irrational animals
5. (painting, sculpture) a real model that an artist reproduces in his work
6. (obsolete) homeland; birthplace
7. (obsolete) naturalist; physicist; astrologer (a person who studies nature or natural history)

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish natural (“natural”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /natuˈɾal/ [n̪ɐ.t̪ʊˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: na‧tu‧ral

Adjective

naturál (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜆᜓᜇᜎ᜔)

1. natural

   Synonym: likas

Adverb

naturál (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜆᜓᜇᜎ᜔)

1. (informal, often sarcastic) obviously; naturally

   Synonyms: likas, malamang

   Natural na hindi ka makakapasok, nakakandado yung pintuan.

   Of course, you wouldn't be able to enter, that door is locked.

   Natural!

   Obviously!

Further reading

• “natural”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018