lusus naturae
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of lusus naturae
First recorded in 1655–65, lusus naturae is from Latin lūsus nātūrae “a jest of nature”
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.
From the loathsome lusus naturae of behemoth horror series to the sprawling cosmopolis of complex management simulators, video games often feature wrenched contortions of the natural world as core tenets in environmental design.
From The Verge • Feb. 13, 2020
I am a philosopher, my child, and a happy philosopher would be a lusus naturae, a freak, a subject for a Barnum & Bailey Show.
From The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne : a Novel by Locke, William John
The semblance of a human face to be formed on the side of a mountain, or in the fracture of a small stone, by a lusus naturae.
From Passages from the American Notebooks, Volume 1 by Hawthorne, Nathaniel
He is a sort of lusus naturae, being bow-legged, humpbacked, potbellied, and possessing warts on his brows, which make him a sort of later horned Moses.
From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800 by Saintsbury, George
I regret that we had no subsequent opportunity to decide whether this was one of a new species of the Macropodidae family, or a mere lusus naturae.
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.
