nature
• noun 1 the physical world, including plants, animals, the landscape, and natural phenomena, as opposed to humans or human creations. 2 the inherent qualities or characteristics of a person or thing. 3 a kind, sort, or class: topics of a religious nature. 4 hereditary characteristics as an influence on or determinant of personality. Often contrasted with NURTURE. — PHRASES in the nature of things inevitable or inevitably. — DERIVATIVES natured adjective. — ORIGIN Latin natura ‘birth, nature, quality’, from nasci ‘be born’.
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