Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Natural"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Natural \Nat"u*ral\ (?; 135), a. [OE. naturel, F. naturel, fr.
L. naturalis, fr. natura. See {Nature}.]
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.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Natural \Nat"u*ral\ (?; 135), n.
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 [[natural]] used to contradict, or to
remove the effect of, a sharp or flat which has preceded
it, and to restore the unaltered note.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

natural
adj 1: in accordance with nature; relating to or concerning nature;
"a very natural development"; "our natural
environment"; "natural science"; "natural resources";
"natural cliffs"; "natural phenomena" [ant: {unnatural}]
2: 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" [ant: {artificial}]
3: existing in or in conformity with nature or the observable
world; neither supernatural nor magical; "a perfectly
natural explanation" [ant: {supernatural}]
4: (biology) 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"
5: (music) of a key containing no sharps or flats; "B natural"
[ant: {sharp}, {flat}]
6: unthinking; prompted by (or as if by) instinct; "a cat's
natural aversion to water"; "offering to help was as
instinctive as breathing" [syn: {instinctive}]
7: (used especially of commodities) in the natural unprocessed
condition; "natural yogurt"; "natural produce"; "raw
wool"; "raw sugar"; "bales of rude cotton" [syn: {raw(a)},
{rude(a)}]
8: related by blood; not adopted; "natural parent"
9: being talented through inherited qualities; "a natural
leader"; "a born musician"; "an innate talent" [syn: {born(p)},
{innate(p)}]
10: unaffected and natural looking; "a lifelike pose"; "a
natural reaction" [syn: {lifelike}]
n 1: someone regarded as certain to succeed; "he's a natural for
the job"
2: a notation cancelling a previous sharp or flat [syn: {cancel}]
3: (in craps) a first roll of 7 or 11 that immediately wins the
stake


Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup

Enter word here:
Exact Approx


dict.stokkie.net
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents; see the Webster Gateway FAQ, and also the Back-end/database links and credits.