nature
Pronunciation: /ˈneɪ̯.tʃə(ɹ)/
The English word “nature” has 11 meanings listed here.
noun
- The way things are, the totality of all things in the physical universe and their order, especially the physical world in contrast to spiritual realms and flora and fauna as distinct from human conventions, art, and technology.
- The essential or innate characteristics of a person or thing which will always tend to manifest, especially in contrast to specific contexts, reason, religious duty, upbringing, and personal pretense or effort.
- The distinguishing characteristic of a person or thing, understood as its general class, sort, type, etc.
- Synonym of caliber: the class of a gun.
- The vital functions or strength of someone or something, especially (now dialect) as requiring nourishment or careful maintenance or (medicine) as a force of regeneration without special treatment.
- The need to urinate and defecate.
- Sexual desire.
- Spontaneous love, affection, or reverence, especially between parent and child.
- A product of the body's physical form, especially semen and vaginal fluids, menstrual fluid, and (obsolete) feces.
- A part of the body's physical form, especially (obsolete) the female genitalia.
verb
Etymology
From Middle English nature, natur, from Old French nature, from Latin nātūra (“birth, origin, natural constitution or quality”), future participle from perfect passive participle (g)natus (“born”), from deponent verb (g)nasci (“to be born, originate”) + future participle suffix -urus. Displaced native Middle English erd (“character, nature, disposition”) from Old English eard (compare German Art…
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.