normal

¹

[nawr-muhl]

adjective

1. conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural.

2. serving to establish a standard.

3. Psychology.

   1. approximately average in any psychological trait, as intelligence, personality, or emotional adjustment.

   2. free from any mental disorder; sane.

4. Biology, Medicine/Medical.

   1. free from any infection or other form of disease or malformation, or from experimental therapy or manipulation.

   2. of natural occurrence.

5. Mathematics.

   1. being at right angles, as a line; perpendicular.

   2. of the nature of or relating to a mathematical normal.

   3. (of an orthogonal system of real functions) defined so that the integral of the square of the absolute value of any function is 1.

   4. (of a topological space) having the property that corresponding to every pair of disjoint closed sets are two disjoint open sets, each containing one of the closed sets.

   5. (of a set) having the property that the same set results when all the elements of the set are operated on consistently on the left and consistently on the right by any element of the set; invariant.

6. Chemistry.

   1. (of a solution) containing one equivalent weight of the constituent in question in one liter of solution.

   2. relating to an aliphatic hydrocarbon having a straight unbranched carbon chain, each carbon atom of which is joined to no more than two other carbon atoms.

   3. of or relating to a neutral salt in which any replaceable hydroxyl groups or hydrogen atoms have been replaced by other groups or atoms, as sodium sulfate, Na 2 SO 4 .

noun

1. the standard or the common type.

2. the usual state, amount, level, etc., especially the average or mean.

   Production may fall below normal.

3. Mathematics.

   1. a perpendicular line or plane, especially one perpendicular to a tangent line of a curve, or a tangent plane of a surface, at the point of contact.

   2. the portion of this perpendicular line included between its point of contact with the curve and the x- axis.

Normal

²

[nawr-muhl]

noun

1. a city in central Illinois.

normal

/ nɔːˈmælɪtɪ, ˈnɔːməl /

adjective

1. usual; regular; common; typical

   the normal way of doing it

   the normal level

2. constituting a standard

   if we take this as normal

3. psychol

   1. being within certain limits of intelligence, educational success or ability, etc

   2. conforming to the conventions of one's group

4. biology med (of laboratory animals) maintained in a natural state for purposes of comparison with animals treated with drugs, etc

5. N. chem (of a solution) containing a number of grams equal to the equivalent weight of the solute in each litre of solvent

6. chem denoting a straight-chain hydrocarbon: a normal alkane . Prefix: n-, e.g. n- octane

7. geometry another word for perpendicular

noun

1. the usual, average, or typical state, degree, form, etc

2. anything that is normal

3. geometry a line or plane perpendicular to another line or plane or to the tangent of a curved line or plane at the point of contact

Other Word Forms

• normality noun
• normalness noun
• antinormal adjective
• half-normal adjective
• hypernormal adjective
• nonnormal adjective
• overnormal adjective
• quasi-normal adjective
• quasi-normally adverb
• seminormal adjective
• seminormally adverb
• unnormal adjective
• unnormally adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of normal¹

First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin normālis “made according to a carpenter's square,” equivalent to norm(a) ( norm ) + -ālis adjective suffix; -al ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of normal¹

C16: from Latin normālis conforming to the carpenter's square, from norma _norm

Example Sentences

Industry insiders say that even once the production lines have restarted, getting back to normal output is likely to take several weeks.

From BBC

She says usually a normal night's sleep can be as little as "five hours, max".

From BBC

But as she lies in her bed at Cardiff's Llandough Hospital, she remembers the day her normal student lifestyle was turned upside down, and contemplates how she can return to an active lifestyle.

From BBC

While schools were beginning to return to normal, Avalyn was struggling with a deep and debilitating fatigue, and eventually left school for home education.

From BBC

Mr Douglas, 63, said his son was a "normal kid" growing up who was "easily led" to make bad decisions.

From BBC

Related Words

• natural 
• orderly 
• ordinary 
• regular 
• routine 
• traditional 
• typical