be a natural—
1. be naturally deficient in intellect; be a halfwitted person:
- She is not quite a natural, that is, not an absolute idiot.
2. have natural talents that make smb. particularly suitable for a task:
- I’m not a natural. This present play is my last, I’ve decided.
be natural—demonstrate behavior that is not affected or self-conscious:
- On the stage he was natural, simple…. It was only that, when he was off, he was acting.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase be in one’s natural state—(also: be in a state of nature)
1. used of the conditions of people before civilization:
- Man in his natural state is the work of God.
2. (of land or animals) in an uncultivated or undomesticated condition:
- The ground was partly cultivated, and partly left in its natural state.
3. (euph.) completely naked:
- How temptingly lovely she was in her natural state! I could not tear my eyes from her.
4. (of substances) not treated or processed:
- a large mass of stone or rock in its natural state; an egg in its natural state in the shell.