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unˈnatural, a. (n.)
[un-1 7, 5 b.]
1. Not in accordance or conformity with the physical nature of persons or animals.
a1425tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula, etc. 60 Also in þe veynez ar gendred vnnaturale humours. Ibid. 68 [It] doþ away wicked colour & vnnatural, and it restoreþ natural colour. 1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. B j, He ought to knowe the vnnaturall thynges, that is y⊇ meate, the drynke, &c. 1597A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 1 b/1 Physiologia..wherin is to be..noted on the seaven vnnaturalle thinges. 1614Latham Falconry i. xiii. 48 Which is vnnaturall, and therfore must needs be vnwholsome [for the hawk]. 1617Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1639) 301 After extraction of unnaturall things, forced into the wound. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 71 The Black Rat..is..possessed of all the voracious and unnatural appetites of the former. 1805Med. Jrnl. XIV. 246 The mother..was very solicitous about her on account of this, her unnatural situation, as she always thought it. 1846A. Marsh Father Darcy II. xi. 179 The tones of their voice sounded..hollow, hoarse, and unnatural. 1890Retrospect Med. CII. 236 The unnatural state occasioned by the presence of sugar.
2. Not in accordance or agreement with the usual course of nature. Also absol.
a1513Fabyan Chron. ci. (1533) 42/1 Berynge in mynde the vnnaturall deth of her parentes. 1605Shakes. Macb. ii. iv. 10 'Tis vnnaturall, Euen like the deed that's done. 1653W. Ramesey Astrol. Restored 250 There shall be..unnatural Dews and Rains. 1722Wollaston Relig. Nat. i. 13 Nothing can interfere with any proposition that is true, but it must likewise interfere with nature,..and consequently be unnatural, or wrong in nature. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles v. xv, Faintly the moon's pale beams supply That ruddy light's unnatural dye. 1846Trench Mirac. 15 The miracle is not thus unnatural, while the unnatural, the contrary to order, is of itself the ungodly. 1854Kingsley Misc. (1859) I. 85 Unnatural weather, so that a fourteen days' voyage takes forty days.
b. Abnormal; monstrous.
1516Reg. Privy Seal Scotl. I. 431/2 The said Johne is be the hand of God dum and defe and unnaturale. 1632Lithgow Trav. ii. 52 Which vnnaturall Childe being brought, I was amazed..to behold the deformity of Nature.
c. Devoid of natural qualities or characteristics; artificial.
1746Francis tr. Horace, Epist. i. x. 28 Among your Columns, rich with various Dyes, Unnatural Woods with aukward Art arise. 1827H. Steuart Planter's G. (1828) 7 Whatever there was of unnatural or formal,..is now banished from the English garden. 1828Lytton Pelham III. iii, Hence, you perceive all people timid, stiff, unnatural, and ill at ease.
3. At variance with natural feeling or moral standards; excessively cruel or wicked.
1529More Suppl. Souls Wks. 314/2 In this thei shew their affeccion much more vnnatural & abhominable [etc.]. 1571Act 13 Eliz. c. 2 §1 Moste wycked and unnatural Rebellyon hathe ensued. 1612Drayton Poly-olb. xi. 178 The vnnatural'st deed that e're was done by man. 1642D. Rogers Naaman To Rdr. §2 Even an unnaturall cruelty. 1732Col. Rec. Pennsylv. III. 497 A final Period was to be putt to all such unnatural Differences. a1800Cowper Odyss. (ed. 2) ii. 175 To thrust the mother forth, Who gave me birth.., were a deed Unnat'ral and impossible to me. 1828Scott Tapestr. Chamb. ad fin., In yon fatal apartment incest and unnatural murder were committed. 1864Kingsley Rom. & T. i. 4 They tar them on to the unnatural fight.
b. Of persons: Devoid of natural feeling; acting at variance with the dictates of nature.
1552Huloet, Vnnaturall to parentes, bactri, bactriani. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 66 Iupiter,..though hee were a cruell tyrant, an vnnaturall childe,..by Poets is made the king of gods. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. ii. iii. 113 A most vn⁓worthy, and vnnatural Lord Can doe no more. 1685in P. Wright New Bk. Martyrs (1784) 804/1 As vnnatural as children that seek the ruin of their parents. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xxix, The messengers of Jehovah's wrath to the unnatural child, who thinks of a stranger's captivity before a parent's. 1836Thirlwall Greece III. xix. 97 It would be impolitic in the Athenians..to countenance the revolt of an unnatural colony. 1871Jowett Plato II. 408 Then he is a parricide, and a cruel unnatural son to an aged parent.
†4. Illegitimate; having no natural right or claim. Obs.
c1550Bale K. Johan (Camden) 4 K.I. They are thy chylderne, thou oughtest to say them good. Y. Nay, bastardes they are, unnaturall by the rood. 1570Homily agst. Rebellion ⁋1 It may seeme more then maruell, that anye subictes woulde..holde with vnnaturall forraigne vsurpers.
5. At variance with what is natural, usual, or to be expected; unusual, strange.
a1586Sidney Arcadia i. i, They ranne unto him, and pulling him backe,..by force stickled that unnatural fray. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. ii. §104 With some cloudiness (which was not unnatural) and trouble in his countenance, he desired his Majesty to give him leave to Travel. 1668Dryden Dram. Poesy Ess. (ed. Ker) I. 72 It is unnatural for any one in a gust of passion to speak long together. 1729Butler Serm. (1848) 34 Since such an action is utterly disproportionate to the nature of man, it is in the strictest and most proper sense unnatural. 1780Mirror No. 100, An unnatural violence done to the work of his favourite poet. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 533 What seemed to his associates to be his unnatural recklessness and audacity. 1850Baynes Analytic 13 Unnatural, indirect or irregular predication..was..that, to wit, in which the species was predicated of the genus.
b. n. An unnatural thing or state.
1682Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. iii. §20 No practice being able to naturalize such unnaturals or make a man rest content not to be himself. |