preternatural

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

[edit] English

[edit] Alternative spellings

• praeternatural

[edit] Etymology

From Latin preternaturalis/praeternaturalis from praeter nātūram from praeter (“‘beyond’”) + nātūra (“‘nature’”).

[edit] Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˌpriː.təˈnætʃ.əɹ.əl/
• (US) IPA: /ˌpri.tɚˈnætʃ.əɹ.əl/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

[edit] Adjective

preternatural (comparative more preternatural, superlative most preternatural)

1. Beyond or different from what is natural or according to the regular course of things; strange; inexplicable; extraordinary; abnormal.
   • 1882, George Edward Ellis, The Red Man and the White Man in North America, p. 152,

     Doubtless there has been some exaggeration in the picturesque and fanciful relations of the almost preternatural skill and cunning of the Indian, [...]

2. (dated) Having an existence outside of the natural world. In this sense, everything supernatural is also preternatural.
   • 1817, William Hazlitt, Characters of Shakespeare's Plays, "Macbeth",

     Macbeth is like a record of a preternatural and tragical event.

   • 1860, George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, Book 1, Chapter 11,

     Not Leonore, in that preternatural midnight excursion with her phantom lover, was more terrified than poor Maggie in this entirely natural ride on a short-paced donkey, [...]

   • 1925, Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Ring of Thoth",

     Vansittart Smith, fixing his eyes upon the fellow's skin, was conscious of a sudden impression that there was something inhuman and preternatural about its appearance.

[edit] Synonyms

• (beyond or different): uncanny

[edit] Derived terms

• preternaturally

[edit] Translations

[edit] References

• preternatural in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913