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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

Kai Havertz, who is playing the centre-forward role despite not being a natural number nine, is their top scorer in the league on seven.

From BBC • Jan. 13, 2025

We can add 1 to any natural number; the result is also a natural number.

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

Half the product of the two might, perhaps, seem to be a natural number to adopt for symbolic purposes.

From The Astronomy of the Bible An Elementary Commentary on the Astronomical References of Holy Scripture by Maunder, E. Walter (Edward Walter)

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