normal

[ nawr-muhl ]
See synonyms for normal on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural.

  2. serving to establish a standard.

  1. Psychology.

    • approximately average in any psychological trait, as intelligence, personality, or emotional adjustment.

    • free from any mental disorder; sane.

  2. Biology, Medicine/Medical.

    • free from any infection or other form of disease or malformation, or from experimental therapy or manipulation.

    • of natural occurrence.

  3. Mathematics.

    • being at right angles, as a line; perpendicular.

    • of the nature of or relating to a mathematical normal.

    • (of an orthogonal system of real functions) defined so that the integral of the square of the absolute value of any function is 1.

    • (of a topological space) having the property that corresponding to every pair of disjoint closed sets are two disjoint open sets, each containing one of the closed sets.

    • (of a set) having the property that the same set results when all the elements of the set are operated on consistently on the left and consistently on the right by any element of the set; invariant.

  4. Chemistry.

    • (of a solution) containing one equivalent weight of the constituent in question in one liter of solution.

    • relating to an aliphatic hydrocarbon having a straight unbranched carbon chain, each carbon atom of which is joined to no more than two other carbon atoms.

    • of or relating to a neutral salt in which any replaceable hydroxyl groups or hydrogen atoms have been replaced by other groups or atoms, as sodium sulfate, Na2SO4.

noun
  1. the standard or the common type.

  2. the usual state, amount, level, etc., especially the average or mean: Production may fall below normal.

  1. Mathematics.

    • a perpendicular line or plane, especially one perpendicular to a tangent line of a curve, or a tangent plane of a surface, at the point of contact.

    • the portion of this perpendicular line included between its point of contact with the curve and the x-axis.

Origin of normal

1
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin normālis “made according to a carpenter's square,” equivalent to norm(a) (see norm) + -ālis adjective suffix; see -al1

Other words from normal

  • nor·mal·i·ty [nawr-mal-i-tee] /nɔrˈmæl ɪ ti/ noun, plural nor·mal·i·ties.
  • nor·mal·ness, noun
  • an·ti·nor·mal, adjective
  • half-nor·mal, adjective
  • hy·per·nor·mal, adjective
  • non·nor·mal, adjective
  • o·ver·nor·mal, adjective
  • qua·si-nor·mal, adjective
  • qua·si-nor·mal·ly, adverb
  • sem·i·nor·mal, adjective
  • sem·i·nor·mal·ly, adverb
  • un·nor·mal, adjective
  • un·nor·mal·ly, adverb

Other definitions for Normal (2 of 2)

Normal
[ nawr-muhl ]

noun
  1. a city in central Illinois.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use normal in a sentence

  • The agreement of others is therefore my criterion of the normalness, the universality, the truth of my thoughts.

    The Essence of Christianity | Ludwig Feuerbach
  • His tone was so extremely matter-of-fact that its very normalness arrested Philip.

    The Angel of Pain | E. F. Benson

British Dictionary definitions for normal

normal

/ (ˈnɔːməl) /


adjective
  1. usual; regular; common; typical: the normal way of doing it; the normal level

  2. constituting a standard: if we take this as normal

  1. psychol

    • being within certain limits of intelligence, educational success or ability, etc

    • conforming to the conventions of one's group

  2. biology med (of laboratory animals) maintained in a natural state for purposes of comparison with animals treated with drugs, etc

  3. chem (of a solution) containing a number of grams equal to the equivalent weight of the solute in each litre of solvent: Symbol: N

  4. chem denoting a straight-chain hydrocarbon: a normal alkane . Prefix: n-, e.g. n- octane

  5. geometry another word for perpendicular (def. 1)

noun
  1. the usual, average, or typical state, degree, form, etc

  2. anything that is normal

  1. geometry a line or plane perpendicular to another line or plane or to the tangent of a curved line or plane at the point of contact

Origin of normal

1
C16: from Latin normālis conforming to the carpenter's square, from norma norm

Derived forms of normal

  • normality (nɔːˈmælɪtɪ) or esp US normalcy, noun

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