n. [ Cf. F. naturalisme. ] 1. A state of nature; conformity to nature. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Metaph.) The doctrine of those who deny a supernatural agency in the miracles and revelations recorded in the Bible, and in spiritual influences; also, any system of philosophy which refers the phenomena of nature to a blind force or forces acting necessarily or according to fixed laws, excluding origination or direction by one intelligent will. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The theory that art or literature should conform to nature; realism; also, the quality, rendering, or expression of art or literature executed according to this theory. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

4. Specifically: The principles and characteristics professed or represented by a 19th-century school of realistic writers, notably by Zola and Maupassant, who aimed to give a literal transcription of reality, and laid special stress on the analytic study of character, and on the scientific and experimental nature of their observation of life. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Cf. F. naturaliste. ] 1. One versed in natural science; a student of natural history, esp. of the natural history of plants or animals; a botanist or zoologist. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. One who holds or maintains the doctrine of naturalism in religion. H. Bushnell. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Belonging to the doctrines of naturalism. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Closely resembling nature; realistic. “Naturalistic bit of pantomime.” W. D. Howells. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. naturalitas: cf. F. naturalité. ] Nature; naturalness. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. naturalisation. ] The act or process of naturalizing, esp. of investing an alien with the rights and privileges of a native or citizen; also, the state of being naturalized. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Naturalized p. pr. & vb. n. Naturalizing ] [ Cf. F. naturaliser. See Natural. ] 1. To make natural; as, custom naturalizes labor or study. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To confer the rights and privileges of a native subject or citizen on; to make as if native; to adopt, as a foreigner into a nation or state, and place in the condition of a native subject. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To receive or adopt as native, natural, or vernacular; to make one's own; as, to naturalize foreign words. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To adapt; to accustom; to habituate; to acclimate; to cause to grow as under natural conditions. [ 1913 Webster ]

Its wearer suggested that pears and peaches might yet be naturalized in the New England climate. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To become as if native. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To explain phenomena by natural agencies or laws, to the exclusion of the supernatural. [ 1913 Webster ]

Infected by this naturalizing tendency. H. Bushnell. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. Acclimated to a new environment; introduced from another region and persisting without cultivation; -- of plants or animals not native to a location. [ wns=1 & 3 ]
Syn. -- domesticated, nonnative. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. planted randomly in soil so as to give an appearance of wild growth; as, drifts of naturalized daffodils. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]