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UNNATURAL
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Speaking or behaving in an artificial way to make an impression
Synonyms:
affected; unnatural
Classified under:
Similar:
agonistic; strained (struggling for effect)
artificial; contrived; hokey; stilted (artificially formal)
constrained; forced; strained (lacking spontaneity; not natural)
elocutionary ((used of style of speaking) overly embellished)
mannered (having unnatural mannerisms)
plummy ((of a voice) affectedly mellow and rich)
Also:
studied (produced or marked by conscious design or premeditation)
Attribute:
affectedness (the quality of being false or artificial (as to impress others))
Derivation:
unnaturalness (the quality of being unnatural or not based on natural principles)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not in accordance with or determined by nature; contrary to nature
Example:
the child's unnatural interest in death
Classified under:
Similar:
violent (effected by force or injury rather than natural causes)
Also:
paranormal (not in accordance with scientific laws)
supernatural (not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws; not physical or material)
affected (acted upon; influenced)
Attribute:
naturalness (the quality of being natural or based on natural principles)
Antonym:
natural (in accordance with nature; relating to or concerning nature)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Not normal; not typical or usual or regular or conforming to a norm
Example:
an abnormal interest in food
Synonyms:
abnormal; unnatural
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
aberrant; deviant; deviate (markedly different from an accepted norm)
anomalous (deviating from the general or common order or type)
antidromic (conducting nerve impulses in a direction opposite to normal)
atypical; irregular (deviating from normal expectations; somewhat odd, strange, or abnormal)
brachydactylic; brachydactylous (having abnormally short finger or toes)
defective (markedly subnormal in structure or function or intelligence or behavior)
freakish (characteristic of a freak)
kinky; perverted ((used of sexual behavior) showing or appealing to bizarre or deviant tastes)
subnormal (below normal or average)
supernormal (exceeding the normal or average)
vicarious (occurring in an abnormal part of the body instead of the usual site involved in that function)
Also:
insane (afflicted with or characteristic of mental derangement)
Attribute:
normalcy; normality (being within certain limits that define the range of normal functioning)
Context examples:
I quite understood; my only doubt was as to whether any dream could be more terrible than the unnatural, horrible net of gloom and mystery which seemed closing around me.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
“That is not an unnatural surmise,” said Fitzwilliam, “but it is a lessening of the honour of my cousin's triumph very sadly.”
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
My dear, you absolutely are, on some subjects, one of the most ridiculous persons in the world, returned her mother, and perhaps the most unnatural to the claims of your own family.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
However, many of these methods involve harsh chemicals that fix, or freeze, cells in an unnatural state or damage living cells after multiple stains have been applied.
(Scientists teach computers how to analyze brain cells, National Institutes of Health)
I expected every moment that my master would accuse the Yahoos of those unnatural appetites in both sexes, so common among us.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
It was a wild, hoarse scream, so strange and unnatural that it might have come either from a man or a woman.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He lay upon his side, his limbs drawn up, and his head screwed round at a most unnatural angle, so that he seemed to be looking straight over his own shoulder.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
But, besides, I could not bring myself to disclose a secret which would fill my hearer with consternation and make fear and unnatural horror the inmates of his breast.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Now, the coxswain's hesitation seemed to be unnatural, and as for the notion of his preferring wine to brandy, I entirely disbelieved it.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older: the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
