na‧ture S1 W1 / neɪtʃə $ -tʃər / 名词

1 plants/animals etc [不可数名词] ( also Nature ) everything in the physical world that is not controlled by humans, such as wild plants and animals, earth and rocks, and the weather :

We grew up in the countryside, surrounded by the beauties of nature.

nature conservation

the laws/forces of nature

The inhabitants of the island fight a constant battle against the forces of nature.

in nature

All these materials are found in nature.

Disease is nature’s way of keeping the population down.

2 sb’s character [可数和不可数名词] someone’s character :

a child with a happy, easy-going nature

sb’s nature

It’s just not in Jane’s nature to lie.

by nature

She was by nature a very affectionate person.

I tried appealing to his better nature (= his feelings of kindness ) but he wouldn’t agree to help us.

Of course she’s jealous – it’s only human nature (= the feelings and ways of behaving that all people have ) .

3 qualities of something [单数形式，不可数] the qualities or features that something has

nature of

They asked a lot of questions about the nature of our democracy.

He examined the nature of the relationship between the two communities.

exact/precise/true nature

The exact nature of the problem is not well understood.

different/political/temporary etc in nature

Any government funding would be temporary in nature.

Capitalist society is by its very nature unstable.

4 type [单数形式] a particular kind of thing

of a personal/political/difficult etc nature

The support being given is of a practical nature.

of this/that nature

I never trouble myself with questions of that nature.

5 in the nature of things according to the natural way things happen :

In the nature of things, there is bound to be the occasional accident.

6 be in the nature of something formal to be similar to a type of thing :

The enquiry will be more in the nature of a public meeting than a formal hearing.

7 against nature not natural, and morally wrong :

They believe that suicide is against nature.

8 let nature take its course to allow events to happen without doing anything to change the results :

The best cure for a cold is to let nature take its course.

9 back to nature a style of living in which people try to live simply and not use modern machines :

city workers who want to get back to nature in their holidays

→ be/become second nature (to somebody) at second 1 ( 10 ) , → the call of nature at call 2 ( 12 )