natural
//ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹəl//
Forms
- Comparative
- more natural
- Superlative
- most natural
- Comparative
- more natural
- Superlative
- most natural
- Plural
- naturals
Definitions
1.Existing in nature.
- Natural food is healthier than processed food.
- It's natural for business to be slow on Tuesdays.
- The natural Love of Life gave me some inward Motions of Joy.
2.Pertaining to birth or descent; native.
- Whom should he follow but his naturall king.
- 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.
- 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.
1.A note that is not or is no longer to be modified by an accidental.
2.One with an innate talent at or for something.
- He's a natural on the saxophone.
3.The symbol ♮ used to indicate such a natural note.
4.An almost white colour, with tints of grey, yellow or brown; originally that of natural fabric.
1.Naturally; in a natural manner.(colloquial)
- Dr. Watson, on the other hand, spoke natural.
- "If the doctor hadn't been sure she was strangled you'd have sworn she died natural."
Frequency
Overall
Common· #783
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
Inherited 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, natur(e) + -al.