Nāt'ū-ral1, a.
(nāt'yū-ral, 66), a. [Fr. naturel, O. Fr., Pr., Sp., & Pg. natural, It. naturale, Lat. naturalis, from natura. See NATURE.]
Sense 1. Fixed on, or determined by, nature; pertaining to the constitution of a thing; belonging to native character; according to nature; essential; characteristic; not 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 appearance; natural color; natural beauty. “With strong natural sense, and rare force of will.” Macaulay.
Sense 2. Conformed to the order or laws of nature; consonant to the methods of nature; according to the stated course of things; not violating the laws which govern events, actions, sentiments, feelings, &c.; not exceptional or violent; legitimate; normal; regular; as, the natural consequences of crime; a natural death; natural conclusions, &c.
His natural sons no more than him. Chapman.
What can be more natural than the circumstances of the behavior of those women who had lost their husbands on this fatal day? Addison.
Sense 3. Having to do with the existing system of things; dealing with, or derived from, the creation, as known by man, or the world of matter and mind; belonging to nature; as, a natural law; natural science or history; natural theology.
I call that natural religion which men might know, and should be obliged to know, by the mere principles of reason, improved by consideration and experience, without the help of revelation. Wilkins.
Sense 4. Conformed to truth or reality: as, (a.) Springing from true sentiment: not artificial or exaggerated;—said of action, delivery, &c.; as, a natural gesture, tone, &c. (b.) Resembling the object imitated; true to nature; according to the life;—said of any thing copied or imitated; as, a natural portrait.
Sense 5. Having the character or sentiments properly belonging to one's position; not unnatural in feelings. [Rare.]
Sense 6. By impulses of natural appetite, as distinguished from those sanctioned by law; out of wedlock; illegitimate; bastard; as, a natural child.
Sense 7. Pertaining to, derived from, or formed by, the lower or animal nature, as contrasted with the higher or moral powers, viewed as being themselves spiritual, or as the organs of the divine Spirit.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. 1 Cor. ii. 14.
Sense 8. (Math.) Belonging to, to be taken in, or referred to, some system, in which the base is 1;—said of a function or number; as, natural numbers, those commencing at 1; natural sines, cosines, &c., those taken in arcs whose radii are 1. Math. Dict.
Sense 9. (Mus.) (a.) Produced by natural organs, as the human throat, &c., in distinction from instrumental music. (b.) Pertaining or belonging 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.
Natural harmony (Mus.), the harmony of the triad or common chord.—Natural history, in its most extensive sense, the description of whatever is created, or of the whole universe, including the heavens and the earth, and all the productions of the earth;—often limited to a description of the earth and its productions, and sometimes applied to the animal kingdom only.—Natural modulation (Mus.), the transition from one key to its relative keys.—Natural orders (Bot.), groups of genera resembling each other.—Natural philosophy, originally, the study of nature in general; in modern usage, that branch of science which relates to the phenomena and laws of masses of matter, and considers those effects only which are not attended by any change of nature, as motion, &c. It is distinguished from chemistry, which relates to the phenomena and laws of particles of matter, and embraces the changes of property; and also from intellectual and moral philosophy, which respect the mind or understanding of man, and the qualities of actions.—Natural scale (Mus.), a scale which is written without flats or sharps. Model would be a preferable term, as less likely to mislead, the so-called artificial scales (scales represented by the use of flats and sharps) being equally natural with the so-called natural scale.—Natural theology, or natural religion, that part of theological science which treats of those evidences of the existence and attributes of the Supreme Being which are exhibited in nature;—distinguished from revealed religion.—Natural vowel, the vowel heard in urn, furl, sir, her, &c.;—so called as being uttered in the easiest open position of the mouth. See Principles of Pronunciation, § 34, Note.
Synonyms—See NATIVE.