natural

Less common meanings

10. 10
    nouncountable or uncountable

    A person with an innate talent for a particular activity or pursuit.

    The coach knew within five minutes that the kid was a natural.

    She had never acted before, but the director called her a natural on the first day.

    UsageUsually a natural: she's a natural, a natural at tennis.

11. 11
    off-whitenoununcountable

    An off-white color with a hint of gray, yellow, or brown, like that of undyed fabric.

    The linen curtains come in natural, a warm off-white that suits the bright room.

    For the wedding, she chose invitations printed on cardstock in natural rather than stark white.

    UsageUsed with no article as a color name: comes in natural, printed in natural.

    Similarecru, off-white

12. 12
    adjective

    Of a note, neither sharp nor flat; marked where needed with the symbol ♮.

    The melody resolves on E natural rather than E flat.

    In C major, every scale tone is natural.

    UsageComes after the note name: E natural, C natural, like B flat.

    Oppositesharp, flat

    Note

    The sign ♮ is written where needed or as a reminder. It cancels an earlier sharp or flat in the measure, or one set by the key signature, and normally holds for that note in that octave until the measure ends or another accidental intervenes. A note that nothing has altered is simply natural and usually goes unmarked. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • A natural cancels a sharp or flat introduced earlier in the measure or by the key signature. open.edu
13. 13
    nouncountable or uncountable

    In music, a note that is neither sharp nor flat, or the sign ♮ placed before a note to show this.

    After the sharp earlier in the bar, the final F reverts to a natural.

    She missed the natural in the second measure and played a B flat by mistake.

    Oppositesharp, flat

14. 14
    hairstylenouncolloquialUScountable or uncountable

    A hairstyle in which Afro-textured hair is worn unstraightened and otherwise untreated.

    After years of relaxers, she transitioned to a natural and never looked back.

    His neatly shaped natural became part of his signature look on stage.

    UsageOften wear a natural or cut hair into a natural.

    Note

    American colloquial speech uses it for Afro-textured hair worn as it grows. Its opposite is relaxed or straightened hair. In the 1960s and 1970s the style became a prominent emblem of Black pride. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The natural or Afro hairstyle became a prominent symbol of Black pride during the 1960s and 1970s. picturingblackhistory.org
15. 15
    blood relationadjective

    Related by birth rather than by adoption or marriage; genetically related.

    The adoption records finally revealed the name of his natural father.

    Courts weighed the rights of the natural parents against those of the foster family.

    UsageCommon in natural parents and natural father; birth parents and biological parents mean the same.

    Similarbiological

    Oppositeadoptive, foster

    Note

    Adoption records and family courts use the word to set blood ties against legal ones: natural parents, a natural father. A sermon by John Henry Newman stretches it to 'natural friends', the people one is born among. In older texts, read carefully: a natural son or daughter there usually means a child born out of wedlock. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Adoption proceedings use natural parents for birth parents. courts.state.md.us
    • Natural father is used in adoption records to distinguish biological relationships from legal parenthood. secure.ssa.gov
    • John Henry Newman uses natural friends in a sermon, referring in context to existing family and personal ties. newmanreader.org
    • Natural son and natural daughter historically denoted children born outside marriage. en.wikipedia.org
16. 16
    outside marriageadjective

    Born to parents who were not married to each other; illegitimate.

    Several of the duke's natural children received quiet annuities.

    Gossip in the parish held that the boy was the squire's natural son.

    Similarillegitimate

    Oppositelegitimate

    Note

    Older English used this as the polite way to say illegitimate. It acknowledged the blood tie while staying silent about the marriage. Jane Austen's Love and Freindship, written in 1790 but first published in 1922, mentions a 'natural Daughter of a Scotch Peer'. In George Eliot's Middlemarch, gossip holds Lydgate to be 'a natural son of Bulstrode's'. The historian Roy Porter still uses natural children beside illegitimate daughters. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

    • Natural historically served as a polite expression for illegitimate, acknowledging biological fatherhood. en.wikipedia.org
    • The quoted wording occurs in Jane Austen's writing; the fictional letter writer is Laura. gutenberg.org
    • 1790 is the manuscript date. Love and Freindship was first published in 1922. en.wikisource.org
    • George Eliot wrote Middlemarch. gutenberg.org
    • Middlemarch reports Mrs. Taft's mistaken belief that Lydgate is Bulstrode's natural son; the quoted words belong to the narration. gutenberg.org
    • Roy Porter was a historian. en.wikipedia.org
    • Roy Porter uses natural children alongside illegitimate daughters. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    no steroids (sport)adjective

    Training or competing without ever having taken anabolic steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.

    After ten years of natural training, he finally competed at the national level.

    Critics doubted the champion was natural, given how quickly he had gained mass.

    Similarclean, drug-free

    Oppositeenhanced

    Note

    Bodybuilding uses the word for a lifter who has stayed off steroids, and it gives the word a plain opposite: enhanced. Drug-tested federations exist to check the claim. That is why doubting that a champion is natural amounts to an accusation. The athlete is named by the noun natural, or natty. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • Bodybuilding federations conduct drug testing to check competitors’ drug-free status. anbfnatural.com
18. 18
    steroid-free personnouncountable or uncountable

    Someone who has never relied on anabolic steroids or any comparable substance to enhance performance.

    She competes as a natural in drug-tested federations.

    Naturals often hit a plateau years before enhanced athletes do.

    UsageGym talk shortens it to natty.

    Note

    The drug-free adjective becomes a label for the athlete. Gregg Valentino recalls in Death, Drugs, and Muscle (2010) that 'as a natural I was still competing and beating guys who were juicing up.' The pride in the word comes from exactly that comparison. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Death, Drugs, and Muscle was published in 2010. ecwpress.com
    • Gregg Valentino is an author of Death, Drugs, and Muscle. simonandschuster.com
    • The quoted words occur in Valentino’s account in Death, Drugs, and Muscle. en.wiktionary.org
19. 19
    winning first rollnouncountable or uncountable

    A roll of two dice totaling 7 or 11 on the comeout roll.

    The shooter opened with a natural, and the pass-line bets paid immediately.

    After three naturals in a row, the crowd around the craps table grew.

    Note

    Craps has its own natural: a 7 or 11 on the comeout roll, which wins at once for pass-line bets. It stands against craps itself, a roll of 2, 3 or 12. It also stands against point numbers, which must be rolled again before a 7 to win. Unlike the gamer's natural 20, it is the total of two dice, not one face. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • A natural in craps is a total of 7 or 11 from two dice on the comeout roll. en.wikipedia.org
    • A comeout natural immediately wins pass-line bets. mgmresorts.com
    • The shooter wins a pass-line bet but can instead have a don't-pass bet, which loses on a natural. casino.hardrock.com
    • A roll of 2, 3 or 12 is called craps. venetianlasvegas.com
    • An established point must be repeated before a 7 for a pass-line bet to win. bellagio.mgmresorts.com
    • A gamer's natural 20 is the result shown on a single die. media.wizards.com
20. 20
    rightful ruleradjective

    Holding a status, most often a position of authority, that comes from one's birth.

    Royalists insisted the exiled prince remained the natural sovereign of the realm.

    Medieval tenants owed service to their natural lord by hereditary right.

    Similarrightful, hereditary, legitimate

    Note

    Birth confers the authority here. A natural lord or king is owed obedience because of descent, not choice. Clifford asks 'Whom should he follow but his naturall king' in Shakespeare's The Third Part of Henry the Sixt. Mary Shelley's creature in Frankenstein offers to be docile 'to my natural lord and king'. Today the phrase mostly belongs to history and to arguments from hereditary right. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • In this sense, natural authority derives from birth or descent. en.wiktionary.org
    • The quoted wording occurs in Shakespeare's The Third Part of Henry the Sixt. en.wiktionary.org
    • Clifford asks the question in Act 1, scene 1 of Shakespeare's play. folger.edu
    • Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. gutenberg.org
    • The creature offers to be docile to his natural lord and king. gutenberg.org
21. 21
    unforcedadverbdialectal

    Naturally; in an unforced, everyday manner.

    He sings natural, never forcing the high notes.

    She talks natural with everyone, from the kids to the mayor.

    UsageUsually right after a verb: sings natural, spoke natural. In careful writing, naturally is usual.

    Similarfreely, easily, effortlessly

    Note

    Casual and regional speech lets the adjective's form serve as the adverb. Daniel Shields writes 'Dr. Watson, on the other hand, spoke natural' (2002), and Leo Bruce's Jack on the Gallows Tree has 'you'd have sworn she died natural.' This is a flat adverb, like real for really. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Daniel Shields wrote the quoted sentence in I Know Where the Horses Play. en.wiktionary.org
    • Leo Bruce's Jack on the Gallows Tree contains the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
    • An adverb sharing its corresponding adjective's form is a flat adverb. en.wikipedia.org
    • Real can function as a flat adverb meaning really. en.wiktionary.org
22. 22
    real breastnounslangcountable or uncountableplural

    A breast that has not been surgically altered or augmented.

    When a fan asked about implants, the singer laughed and said hers were naturals.

    Her surgeon matched the implant closely to the remaining natural.

    UsageIn polite or clinical speech, say natural breasts instead.

23. 23
    roll before bonusesadjective

    Of a dice roll: showing the result before any bonuses or penalties have been applied.

    The house rule treats any natural 1 as an automatic failure.

    You need a natural 16 or higher, since modifiers don't count for this check.

    UsageThe number follows: a natural 20, a natural 1.

    Similarunmodified

    Oppositemodified

    Note

    Only the face of the die counts, not the total after modifiers. Many rule sets attach special results to particular faces, such as automatic failure on a natural 1. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • A natural roll is the die result before bonuses or penalties. en.wiktionary.org
    • Game rules can give particular die faces special outcomes, including automatic failure on a natural 1. dndbeyond.com
    • Other rule sets also attach special results to natural rolls. pelgranepress.com
24. 24
    lifetimenouncolloquialUKcountable or uncountable

    One's life, used chiefly in the fixed expression 'in all my natural.'

    Never in all my natural have I seen the river that high.

    She'd not heard such cheek in all her natural, she told the neighbors.

    UsageOften used with never to express surprise or disbelief: I've never seen anything like it in all my natural.

    Similarlife

    Note

    Frederic Manning's The Middle Parts of Fortune (1929) has 'you've never seen a man look more surprised in your natural.' Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Frederic Manning wrote The Middle Parts of Fortune. gutenberg.net.au
    • The Middle Parts of Fortune was first published in 1929. cdn.waterstones.com
    • The quoted wording occurs in the novel, spoken by Corporal Marshall. gutenberg.net.au
25. 25
    bridge (bidding)adjective

    Bidding in an intuitive way that reflects the actual contents of one's hand.

    Her two-spade response was natural, showing genuine length in spades.

    They play a natural system, so each bid names a suit they really hold.

    Oppositeartificial, conventional

    Note

    Bridge players sort bids into two kinds, and this word names the plain one. A natural call means what it says; a natural suit bid normally shows length in the suit named. Its opposites are artificial and conventional, which describe bids with agreed meanings beyond their literal ones. A natural system is one built mainly on such straightforward bids. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Bridge calls are commonly classified as natural or conventional/artificial. en.wikipedia.org
    • Natural calls also include no-trump bids, passes, doubles and redoubles; they do not invariably show suit length. web2.acbl.org
    • Natural bids also have agreed meanings. Artificial or conventional bids convey information beyond their ordinary meaning; agreement alone does not make a bid conventional. bridgewebs.com
    • A natural bidding system consists mainly of natural bids. en.wikipedia.org
26. 26
    nounarchaiccountable or uncountable

    A native inhabitant of a particular place or country.

    Note

    Early colonial writing called a land's inhabitants its naturals. Ralph Hamor, writing about Virginia in 1615, speaks of 'the welfare of the Naturals'. It turns the 'by birth' adjective into a name for people.

27. 27
    nounarchaiccountable or uncountable

    A person of very limited intellect; a fool or simpleton.

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

    1897, Stanley John Weyman, Shrewsbury

    Similarfool, idiot, blockhead, airhead, birdbrain

    Note

    Romeo and Juliet likens driveling love to 'a great Naturall', and a 1630s edition of A Banquet of Jests uses naturall and Ideot for the same man. Stanley Weyman still has a character snap 'you are a natural!' in Shrewsbury. Today the word is archaic and would land as an insult.

28. 28
    adjective

    Of a trigonometric function of an angle, giving its ordinary value rather than the logarithm of that value.
29. 29
    adjective

    Of a class of modules, closed under submodules, direct sums and injective hulls.