natural law
noun
Simple meaning
The set of universal legal or moral principles said to be discernible from nature by reason alone.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nacheruhllawSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈnætʃɚəlˈlɔ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
lawphilosophy
The set of universal legal or moral principles said to be discernible from nature by reason alone; one of these principles.
lawphilosophy
A theory describing or positing such principles.
A law relating to natural phenomena.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The set of universal legal or moral principles said to be discernible from nature by reason alone; one of these principles.
Used this way, natural law is a specialist word with a clearly warm, approving pull. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Honest and open
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
- Ethics/values
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.