Normal

¹ American  

[nawr-muhl] / ˈnɔr məl /

noun

1. a city in central Illinois.

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normal ² American  

[nawr-muhl] / ˈnɔr məl /

adjective

1. conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural.

2. serving to establish a standard.

3. Psychology.

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

   2. free from any mental disorder; sane.

4. Biology, Medicine/Medical.

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

   2. of natural occurrence.

5. Mathematics.

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

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

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

   4. (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.

   5. (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.

6. Chemistry.

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

   2. 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.

   3. of or relating to a neutral salt in which any replaceable hydroxyl groups or hydrogen atoms have been replaced by other groups or atoms, as sodium sulfate, Na 2 SO 4 .

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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.

3. Mathematics.

   1. 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.

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

normal British  

/ nɔːˈmælɪtɪ, 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

3. psychol

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

   2. conforming to the conventions of one's group

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

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

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

7. geometry another word for perpendicular

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noun

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

2. anything that is normal

3. 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

Other Word Forms

• antinormal adjective
• half-normal adjective
• hypernormal adjective
• nonnormal adjective
• normality noun
• normalness noun
• overnormal adjective
• quasi-normal adjective
• quasi-normally adverb
• seminormal adjective
• seminormally adverb
• unnormal adjective
• unnormally adverb

Etymology

Origin of normal

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

Example Sentences

While the heart surgery was underway, the donor liver was maintained on a TransMedics Organ Care System -- a specialized device designed to replicate normal liver function.

From Science Daily

Management said the Louvre, which was the victim of an embarrassing daylight robbery on October 19, would open "as normal" on Friday.

From Barron's

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said the legislation was “overstretching the concept of national security” and would “distort normal investment flows between the two countries.”

From The Wall Street Journal

He immediately was taken off his normal shift.

From Los Angeles Times

She is now recovering at home, but Mr Gibson said she was still not back to normal.

From BBC

Related Words

• natural
• orderly
• ordinary
• regular
• routine
• traditional
• typical