unˈnatural, a. (n.)
[un-1 7, 5 b.]
1. Not in accordance or conformity with the physical nature of persons or animals.
| a 1425 tr. 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. 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. B j, He ought to knowe the vnnaturall thynges, that is y⊇ meate, the drynke, &c. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 1 b/1 Physiologia..wherin is to be..noted on the seaven vnnaturalle thinges. 1614 Latham Falconry i. xiii. 48 Which is vnnaturall, and therfore must needs be vnwholsome [for the hawk]. 1617 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1639) 301 After extraction of unnaturall things, forced into the wound. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 71 The Black Rat..is..possessed of all the voracious and unnatural appetites of the former. 1805 Med. Jrnl. XIV. 246 The mother..was very solicitous about her on account of this, her unnatural situation, as she always thought it. 1846 A. Marsh Father Darcy II. xi. 179 The tones of their voice sounded..hollow, hoarse, and unnatural. 1890 Retrospect 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.
| a 1513 Fabyan Chron. ci. (1533) 42/1 Berynge in mynde the vnnaturall deth of her parentes. 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. iv. 10 'Tis vnnaturall, Euen like the deed that's done. 1653 W. Ramesey Astrol. Restored 250 There shall be..unnatural Dews and Rains. 1722 Wollaston 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. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles v. xv, Faintly the moon's pale beams supply That ruddy light's unnatural dye. 1846 Trench Mirac. 15 The miracle is not thus unnatural, while the unnatural, the contrary to order, is of itself the ungodly. 1854 Kingsley Misc. (1859) I. 85 Unnatural weather, so that a fourteen days' voyage takes forty days. |
b. Abnormal; monstrous.
| 1516 Reg. Privy Seal Scotl. I. 431/2 The said Johne is be the hand of God dum and defe and unnaturale. 1632 Lithgow 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.
| 1746 Francis tr. Horace, Epist. i. x. 28 Among your Columns, rich with various Dyes, Unnatural Woods with aukward Art arise. 1827 H. Steuart Planter's G. (1828) 7 Whatever there was of unnatural or formal,..is now banished from the English garden. 1828 Lytton 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.
| 1529 More Suppl. Souls Wks. 314/2 In this thei shew their affeccion much more vnnatural & abhominable [etc.]. 1571 Act 13 Eliz. c. 2 §1 Moste wycked and unnatural Rebellyon hathe ensued. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xi. 178 The vnnatural'st deed that e're was done by man. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman To Rdr. §2 Even an unnaturall cruelty. 1732 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. III. 497 A final Period was to be putt to all such unnatural Differences. a 1800 Cowper Odyss. (ed. 2) ii. 175 To thrust the mother forth, Who gave me birth.., were a deed Unnat'ral and impossible to me. 1828 Scott Tapestr. Chamb. ad fin., In yon fatal apartment incest and unnatural murder were committed. 1864 Kingsley 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.
| 1552 Huloet, Vnnaturall to parentes, bactri, bactriani. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 66 Iupiter,..though hee were a cruell tyrant, an vnnaturall childe,..by Poets is made the king of gods. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. ii. iii. 113 A most vn⁓worthy, and vnnatural Lord Can doe no more. 1685 in P. Wright New Bk. Martyrs (1784) 804/1 As vnnatural as children that seek the ruin of their parents. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxix, The messengers of Jehovah's wrath to the unnatural child, who thinks of a stranger's captivity before a parent's. 1836 Thirlwall Greece III. xix. 97 It would be impolitic in the Athenians..to countenance the revolt of an unnatural colony. 1871 Jowett 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.
| c 1550 Bale 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. 1570 Homily 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.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. i, They ranne unto him, and pulling him backe,..by force stickled that unnatural fray. 1647 Clarendon 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. 1668 Dryden Dram. Poesy Ess. (ed. Ker) I. 72 It is unnatural for any one in a gust of passion to speak long together. 1729 Butler 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. 1780 Mirror No. 100, An unnatural violence done to the work of his favourite poet. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 533 What seemed to his associates to be his unnatural recklessness and audacity. 1850 Baynes 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.
| 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. iii. §20 No practice being able to naturalize such unnaturals or make a man rest content not to be himself. |