natural

comparative more natural · superlative most natural · alternative obsolete naturall · alternative nat'ral

1. Existing in nature.
   1. Existing in the nature of a person or thing; innate, not acquired or learned.First known use 14th c.

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

      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)

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      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.

      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

      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.

      2019 July 10, Stephen Moss, “Could your cab driver really be the next Pavarotti?”, in The Guardian

      Synonyms: congenital, inborn, connate, connatural, congenital, congenite, genetous, inborn · Antonyms: aberrant, abnormal, artificial

   2. Normally associated with a particular person or thing; inherently related to the nature of a thing or creature.First known use 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.First known use 14th c.

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

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

      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 ?

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

      Synonyms: inevitable, necessary, reasonable, ordinary, typical, avoidless, certain, fatal · Antonyms: unexpected, weird, avertable, avoidable, dodgeable, escapable, evadable, evitable

   4. Formed by nature; not manufactured or created by artificial processes.First known use 15th c.

      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.

      2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 10

      Synonyms: crude, unprocessed, unrefined, raw, coarse, crude, pure, pristine

   5. Pertaining to death brought about by disease or old age, rather than by violence, accident etc.First known use 16th c.

      She died of natural causes.

      1 more example

      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.

      2015 June 5, The Guardian

   6. Having an innate ability to fill a given role or profession, or display a specified character.First known use 16th c.

      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.

      1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

      Synonyms: natural-born

   7. mathematicsDesignating a standard trigonometric function of an angle, as opposed to the logarithmic function.First known use 17th c.
   8. algebraClosed under submodules, direct sums, and injective hulls.
   9. entertainmentNeither sharp nor flat. Denoted ♮.First known use 18th c.

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

   10. Containing no artificial or man-made additives; especially (of food) containing no colourings, flavourings or preservatives.First known use 19th c.

       Natural food is healthier than processed food.

       Synonyms: unprocessed · Antonyms: processed

   11. Pertaining to a decoration that preserves or enhances the appearance of the original material; not stained or artificially coloured.First known use 19th c.
   12. Pertaining to a fabric still in its undyed state, or to the colour of undyed fabric.First known use 19th c.
   13. dicePertaining to a dice roll before bonuses or penalties have been applied to the result.
   14. bodybuildingNot having used anabolic steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.

       Synonyms: natty, unjuiced · Antonyms: enhanced, juiced

   15. Uncircumcised; intact.

       Synonyms: foreskinned, uncut, foreskinned, intact, uncirced, un-circed, uncircumcised, unclipped

   16. bridgeBidding 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.First known use 14th–19th c.

      Whom should he follow but his naturall king.

      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]

      1 more example

      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.

      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

      Synonyms: trueborn

   2. Related genetically but not legally to one's father; born out of wedlock, illegitimate.First known use 15th c.

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

      1790, Jane Austen, “Love and Freindship”, in Juvenilia

      3 more examples

      “What! do not you know who Miss Williams is? I am sure you must have heard of her before. She is a relation of the Colonel’s, my dear; a very near relation. We will not say how near, for fear of shocking the young ladies.” Then lowering her voice a little, she said to Elinor, “She is his natural daughter.” “Indeed!” “Oh! yes; and as like him as she can stare. I dare say the Colonel will leave her all his fortune.” Lady Middleton’s delicacy was shocked; an in order to banish so improper a subject as the mention of a natural daughter, she actually took the trouble of saying something herself about the weather.

      1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

      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.

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

      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.

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

      Synonyms: extramarital, misbegotten, spurious, illegitimate, base, baseborn, base born, bastardly

   3. Related by birth; genetically related.First known use 16th c.

      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.

      1843, John Henry Newman, “The Kingdom of the Saints”, in Parochial Sermons, 4th edition, volume II, J. G. F. & J. Rivington, pages 264–5

      Synonyms: akin, consanguineous, same-blooded, akin, cognate, consanguine, consanguineous, consanguineal

plural naturals · alternative obsolete naturall · alternative nat'ral

1. archaiccountableuncountableA native inhabitant of a place, country, etc.First known use 16th c.

   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 […]

   1615, Ralph Hamor, A True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia, Richmond, published 1957, page 3

2. countableuncountableentertainmentA note that is not or is no longer to be modified by an accidental.First known use 17th c.
3. countableuncountableentertainmentThe symbol ♮ used to indicate such a natural note.
4. countableuncountableOne with an innate talent at or for something.First known use 18th c.

   He's a natural on the saxophone.

5. uncountableAn almost white colour, with tints of grey, yellow or brown; originally that of natural fabric.First known use 20th c.
6. archaiccountableuncountableOne with a simple mind; a fool or idiot.

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

   1897, Stanley John Weyman, chapter XI, in Shrewsbury

   2 more examples

   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.

   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

   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.

   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

   Synonyms: half-natural, addle-brain, addlehead, addle pate, airhead, baboon, beanbrain, beetlebrain

7. UKcolloquialcountableuncountableOne's life.

   ‘Sergeant-Major Robinson came in in the middle of it, and you've never seen a man look more surprised in your natural.’

   1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 155

8. UScolloquialcountableuncountableA hairstyle for people with Afro-textured hair in which the hair is not straightened or otherwise treated.

   I wanted to do it for so long — throw out my chemically relaxed hair for a natural.

   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

   2 more examples

   Chinosole, who stopped straightening her hair and cut it into a natural while at a predominantly white college, was quite uneasy with the style

   2002, Maxine Leeds Craig, Ain't I a Beauty Queen?: Black Women, Beauty, and the Politics of Race, Oxford University Press, →ISBN

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

   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

9. countablein pluralslanguncountableA breast which has not been modified by plastic surgery.

   big naturals

   4 more examples

   > 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

   1999 March 2, Mathew Alphonse Coppola, “Please rate these women...”, in rec.arts.movies.erotica (Usenet)

   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.

   2002 August 19, Jon Eric, “Great Tit Debate.......”, in rec.arts.movies.erotica (Usenet)

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

   2010 March 2, Miles Williams Mathis, “The Sexiest Women of the Screen: A Thinking Man's List”, in mileswmathis.com (personal website), archived from the original on 23 Sep 2010

   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.

   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

10. countableuncountablebodybuildingSomeone who has not used anabolic steroids or other performance-enhancing substances.

    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.

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

    Synonyms: natty

11. countableuncountablecrapsA roll of two dice with a score of 7 or 11 on the comeout roll.
12. countableuncountableA deal of cards totalling 8 or 9.

    1 more example

    ‘Now,’ Bond continued, ‘when the banker deals me my two cards, if they add up to eight or nine, they're a ‘natural’ and I turn them up and I win, unless he has an equal or a better natural. If I haven't got a natural, I can stand on a seven or a six, perhaps ask for a card or perhaps not, on a five, and certainly ask for a card if my count is lower than five.’

    1953, Ian Fleming, “The Game Is Baccarat”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 69

13. countableuncountablecard gamesSynonym of pontoon (“hand totalling 21 points”).

    Synonyms: pontoon

comparative more natural · superlative most natural · alternative obsolete naturall · alternative nat'ral

1. colloquialdialectalNaturally; in a natural manner.

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

   2002, Daniel Shields, I Know Where the Horses Play, iUniverse, page 64

   1 more example

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

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