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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.

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

A notable difference from Almaty was Rodgers' ability to call on natural number nine in Iheanacho.

From BBC • Sep. 24, 2025

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

Yet even this seemingly simple concept poses a challenge: there is no largest natural number.

From Scientific American • Aug. 16, 2021

A perfect number is a natural number which is equal to the sum of its aliquot parts.

From Popular Science Monthly Oct, Nov, Dec, 1915 — Volume 86 by Anonymous

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