- nature
- [[t]ne͟ɪtʃə(r)[/t]]
♦♦natures1) N-UNCOUNT Nature is all the animals, plants, and other things in the world that are not made by people, and all the events and processes that are not caused by people.→ See also Mother Nature
The most amazing thing about nature is its infinite variety.
...grasses that grow wild in nature.
...the ecological balance of nature.
2) N-SING: with supp, oft n N, also by/in N The nature of something is its basic quality or character.Mr Sharp would not comment on the nature of the issues being investigated.
...the ambitious nature of the programme...
The protests had been non-political by nature...
The rise of a major power is both economic and military in nature.
3) N-SING: with poss, also by N Someone's nature is their character, which they show by the way they behave.→ See also human natureJeya feels that her ambitious nature made her unsuitable for an arranged marriage...
She trusted people. That was her nature...
He was by nature affectionate.
4) PHRASE: v-link PHR If you say that something is against nature, you think that it is unnatural.All these activities are against nature.
Syn:5) PHRASE: PHR after v If you want to get back to nature, you want to return to a simpler way of living.She was very anxious to get away from cities and back to nature.
6) PHRASE: N inflects, PHR with cl If you say that something has a particular characteristic by its nature or by its very nature, you mean that things of that type always have that characteristic.Peacekeeping, by its nature, makes pre-planning difficult...
One could argue that smoking, by its very nature, is addictive.
7) PHRASE: PHR after v (politeness) Some people talk about a call of nature when referring politely to the need to go to the toilet.I'm afraid I have to answer a call of nature.
8) PHRASE: PHR with cl If you say that something is in the nature of things, you mean that you would expect it to happen in the circumstances mentioned.Of course, in the nature of things, and with a lot of drinking going on, people failed to notice...
Many have already died, and in the nature of things many more will die.
9) PHRASE: PHR n, usu v-link PHR, pron-indef PHR If you say that one thing is in the nature of another, you mean that it is like the other thing.There is movement towards, I think, something in the nature of a pluralistic system...
It was in the nature of a debate rather than an argument.
10) PHRASE: v-link PHR, oft PHR to n If a way of behaving is second nature to you, you do it almost without thinking because it is easy for you or obvious to you.Planning ahead had always come as second nature to her...
It's not easy at first, but it soon becomes second nature.
English dictionary. 2008.
