normal

¹

[nawr-muhl]

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 of or relating to a neutral salt in which any replaceable hydroxyl groups or hydrogen atoms have been replaced by other groups or atoms, as sodium sulfate, Na 2 SO 4 .

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

²

[nawr-muhl]

noun

1. a city in central Illinois.

normal

/ 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

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

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of normal¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of normal¹

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

Example Sentences

He said "expectation vs reality" is the biggest problem, adding: "Many folks think this is the normal, when it really isn't."

From BBC

The normal process for government appointments is dependent on the job being given and the sensitivity of the material and information to be handled.

From BBC

Social media users experience being overwhelmed with information, feeling the future is always collapsing on them, and speed seems to be the new normal, Srinivasan said.

From Los Angeles Times

In normal times, Congress would even convene impeachment hearings due to some of his behavior.

From Salon

I'm a person who does what any other person does in a normal life.

From BBC

Related Words

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