natural Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun someone regarded as certain to succeed
    • he's a natural for the job
  2. noun a notation cancelling a previous sharp or flat
    cancel.
  3. noun (craps) a first roll of 7 or 11 that immediately wins the stake
  4. adjective in accordance with nature; relating to or concerning nature
    • a very natural development
    • our natural environment
    • natural science
    • natural resources
    • natural cliffs
    • natural phenomena
  5. adjective existing in or produced by nature; not artificial or imitation
    • a natural pearl
    • natural gas
    • natural silk
    • natural blonde hair
    • a natural sweetener
    • natural fertilizers
  6. adjective existing in or in conformity with nature or the observable world; neither supernatural nor magical
    • a perfectly natural explanation
  7. adjective satellite functioning or occurring in a normal way; lacking abnormalities or deficiencies
    • it's the natural thing to happen
    • natural immunity
    • a grandparent's natural affection for a grandchild
  8. adjective (of a musical note) being neither raised nor lowered by one chromatic semitone
    • a natural scale
    • B natural
  9. adjective satellite unthinking; prompted by (or as if by) instinct
    instinctive.
    • a cat's natural aversion to water
    • offering to help was as instinctive as breathing
  10. adjective satellite (used especially of commodities) being unprocessed or manufactured using only simple or minimal processes
    raw; rude.
    • natural yogurt
    • natural produce
    • raw wool
    • raw sugar
    • bales of rude cotton
  11. adjective satellite related by blood; not adopted
  12. adjective satellite being talented through inherited qualities
    born; innate.
    • a natural leader
    • a born musician
    • an innate talent
  13. adjective satellite free from artificiality
    lifelike.
    • a lifelike pose
    • a natural reaction

WordNet

Nat"u*ral adjective
Etymology
OE. naturel, F. naturel, fr. L. naturalis, fr. natura. See Nature.
Definitions
  1. Fixed or determined by nature; pertaining to the constitution of a thing; belonging to native character; according to nature; essential; characteristic; not artifical, foreign, assumed, put on, or acquired; as, the natural growth of animals or plants; the natural motion of a gravitating body; natural strength or disposition; the natural heat of the body; natural color.
    With strong natural sense, and rare force of will. Macaulay.
  2. Conformed to the order, laws, or actual facts, of nature; consonant to the methods of nature; according to the stated course of things, or in accordance with the laws which govern events, feelings, etc.; not exceptional or violent; legitimate; normal; regular; as, the natural consequence of crime; a natural death.
    What can be more natural than the circumstances in the behavior of those women who had lost their husbands on this fatal day? Addison.
  3. Having to do with existing system to things; dealing with, or derived from, the creation, or the world of matter and mind, as known by man; within the scope of human reason or experience; not supernatural; as, a natural law; natural science; history, theology.
    I call that natural religion which men might know ... by the mere principles of reason, improved by consideration and experience, without the help of revelation. Bp. Wilkins.
  4. Conformed to truth or reality; as: (a) Springing from true sentiment; not artifical or exaggerated; -- said of action, delivery, etc.; as, a natural gesture, tone, etc. (b) Resembling the object imitated; true to nature; according to the life; -- said of anything copied or imitated; as, a portrait is natural.
  5. Having the character or sentiments properly belonging to one's position; not unnatural in feelings.
    To leave his wife, to leave his babes, ... He wants the natural touch. Shak.
  6. Connected by the ties of consanguinity. "Natural friends." J. H. Newman.
  7. Begotten without the sanction of law; born out of wedlock; illegitimate; bastard; as, a natural child.
  8. Of or pertaining to the lower or animal nature, as contrasted with the higher or moral powers, or that which is spiritual; being in a state of nature; unregenerate.
    The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. 1 Cor. ii. 14.
  9. (Math.) Belonging to, to be taken in, or referred to, some system, in which the base is 1; -- said or certain functions or numbers; as, natural numbers, those commencing at 1; natural sines, cosines, etc., those taken in arcs whose radii are 1.
  10. (Mus.) (a) Produced by natural organs, as those of the human throat, in distinction from instrumental music. (b) of or pertaining to a key which has neither a flat nor a sharp for its signature, as the key of C major. (c) Applied to an air or modulation of harmony which moves by easy and smooth transitions, digressing but little from the original key. Moore (Encyc. of Music). Syn. -- See Native.
Nat"u*ral noun
Definitions
  1. A native; an aboriginal. Obs. Sir W. Raleigh.
  2. pl. Natural gifts, impulses, etc. Obs. Fuller.
  3. One born without the usual powers of reason or understanding; an idiot. "The minds of naturals." Locke.
  4. (Mus.) A character [♮] used to contradict, or to remove the effect of, a sharp or flat which has preceded it, and to restore the unaltered note.

Webster 1913