nature (noun)

the essential qualities or characteristics by which something is recognized

"it is the nature of fire to burn"; "the true nature of jealousy"

nature (noun)

a causal agent creating and controlling things in the universe

"the laws of nature"; "nature has seen to it that men are stronger than women"

nature (noun)

the natural physical world including plants and animals and landscapes etc.

"they tried to preserve nature as they found it"

nature (noun)

the complex of emotional and intellectual attributes that determine a person's characteristic actions and reactions

"it is his nature to help others"

nature (noun)

a particular type of thing

"problems of this type are very difficult to solve"; "he's interested in trains and things of that nature"; "matters of a personal nature"

nature (Noun)

The natural world; consisting of all things unaffected by or predating human technology, production and design. e.g. the natural environment, virgin ground, unmodified species, laws of nature.

nature (Noun)

The innate characteristics of a thing. What something will tend by its own constitution, to be or do. Distinct from what might be expected or intended.

nature (Noun)

The summary of everything that has to do with biological, chemical and physical states and events in the physical universe.

nature (Verb)

To endow with natural qualities.

Nature (ProperNoun)

The sum of natural forces reified and considered as a sentient being, will, or principle.

Nature

Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the cosmic. The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth". Natura was a Latin translation of the Greek word physis, which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord. The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage was confirmed during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries. Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife. Nature may refer to the general realm of various types of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects – the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth, and the matter and energy of which all these things are composed. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wilderness–wild animals, rocks, forest, beaches, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind. Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be distinguished from the unnatural, the supernatural, or synthetic.