natural

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.

adj

1. Existing in nature.
   1. Existing in the nature of a person or thing; innate, not acquired or learned.
      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. 10 July 2019, The Guardian
   2. Normally associated with a particular person or thing; inherently related to the nature of a thing or creature.
      The species will be under threat if its natural habitat is destroyed.
   3. As expected; reasonable, normal; naturally arising from the given circumstances.
      It's natural for business to be slow on Tuesdays.
      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 ? 1711-05-25, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, The Spectator, volume I, number 74, page 333
   4. Formed by nature; not manufactured or created by artificial processes.
      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. 2013-06-21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 10
   5. Pertaining to death brought about by disease or old age, rather than by violence, accident etc.
      She died of natural causes.
      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. 5 Jun 2015, The Guardian
   6. Having an innate ability to fill a given role or profession, or display a specified character.
      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
   7. (mathematics) Designating a standard trigonometric function of an angle, as opposed to the logarithmic function.
   8. (music) Neither sharp nor flat. Denoted ♮.
      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.
      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.
   11. Pertaining to a fabric still in its undyed state, or to the colour of undyed fabric.
   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.
   14. (bridge) Bidding in an intuitive way that reflects one's actual hand.
   15. (algebra) Closed under submodules, direct sums, and injective hulls.
2. Pertaining to birth or descent; native.
   1. Having a given status (especially of authority) by virtue of birth.
   2. Related genetically but not legally to one's father; born out of wedlock, illegitimate.
      [M]y Mother was the natural Daughter of a Scotch Peer by an italian Opera-girl […]. 1790, Jane Austen, “Love and Freindship”, in Juvenilia
      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
   3. Related by birth; genetically related.
      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

noun

1. (now rare) A native inhabitant of a place, country etc.
   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. (music) A note that is not or is no longer to be modified by an accidental.
3. (music) The symbol ♮ used to indicate such a natural note.
4. One with an innate talent at or for something.
   He's a natural on the saxophone.
5. An almost white colour, with tints of grey, yellow or brown; originally that of natural fabric.
   natural:
6. (archaic) One with a simple mind; a fool or idiot.
   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
7. (colloquial, chiefly UK) One'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. (US, colloquial) A hairstyle for people with Afro-textured hair in which the hair is not straightened or otherwise treated.
   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
   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
   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, page 155
9. (slang, chiefly in plural) A breast which has not been modified.
   > Nina Hartley ¶ 2, unattractive, square "steriod jaw", nice ass, FAKE breasts or small naturals, great sexual presence […] > Marilyn Monroe ¶ 7, decent body, medium NATURALS, stereotypical "godess/playboy" blond/blue doesn't usually work for me, good sexual presence 1999-03-02, Mathew Alphonse Coppola, “Please rate these women...”, 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. 2002-08-19, Jon Eric, “Great Tit Debate.......”, in rec.arts.movies.erotica (Usenet), retrieved 2021-10-18
   It isn't the big naturals on a little torso that do it for me, since that is not my thing. 2010-03-02, 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
   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. 2016-10-26, 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. (bodybuilding) Someone who has not used anabolic steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.
    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
11. (craps) A roll of two dice with a score of 7 or 11 on the comeout roll.

adv

1. (colloquial, dialect) Naturally; in a natural manner.
   Dr. Watson, on the other hand, spoke natural. 2002, Daniel Shields, I Know Where the Horses Play, iUniverse, page 64
   "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