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natural number

American

noun

a positive integer or zero.

natural number British

noun

any of the numbers 0,1,2,3,4,… that can be used to count the members of a set; the non-negative integers

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

natural number Scientific

A positive integer.

Etymology

Origin of natural number

First recorded in 1755–65

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.

For someone who is not a natural number eight, he is also up there as the world's best in the position.

From BBC • Feb. 7, 2026

Arsenal signed Gyokeres in a deal worth £64m in the summer as Arteta looked to bring in a natural number nine and lead them to their first trophy since 2020.

From BBC • Nov. 4, 2025

If people put forward these replies to the largest natural number question, who would be right?

From Scientific American • Jul. 13, 2023

A fragile tail, featuring at least three natural number 11s, also cranked up the responsibility on the overnight pairing of Root and Foakes.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 5, 2022

We have heard it said that five per cent. is the natural interest of money, that twelve is the natural number of a jury, that forty shillings is the natural qualification of a county voter.

From Critical and Historical Essays — Volume 2 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023