natural history
Americannoun
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the sciences, as botany, mineralogy, or zoology, dealing with the study of all objects in nature: used especially in reference to the beginnings of these sciences in former times.
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the study of these sciences.
noun
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the study of animals and plants in the wild state
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the study of all natural phenomena
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the sum of these phenomena in a given place or at a given time
the natural history of Iran
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of natural history
First recorded in 1560–70
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"The United States is the only country in the world where fossils like this are considered personal property," Cassandra Hatton, head of science and natural history at Sotheby's, told AFP before the auction.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
The dinosaur is now on display at the city’s natural history museum, which opened in 2025.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Cassandra Hatton, global head of natural history at Sotheby's, knows very well the lengths some fossil scientists - palaeontologists - are willing to go to in the search for these creatures.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
"It is really important that we still perform natural history work," Judah emphasized.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
Although there is a large literature on the classification and natural history of spiders, it is scattered and fragmentary and deals not at all with their value as an agent of biological control.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.