preternatural
Contents
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- praeternatural
- præternatural (archaic)
Etymology[edit]
From Latin preternaturalis/praeternaturalis, from praeter nātūram, from praeter (“beyond”) + nātūra (“nature”); compare supernatural.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
preternatural (comparative more preternatural, superlative most preternatural)
- 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, [...]
- 2014 January 4, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, “The other Charlotte Brontë girl [online version (3 January 2014): Why Villette is better than Jane Eyre: Everybody knows Jane Eyre, but Charlotte Brontë's greatest and most original novel was her last, Villette]”, The Daily Telegraph, page R14:
- "Villette! Villette! wrote George Eliot. "It is a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre. There is something almost preternatural in its power."
- 1882, George Edward Ellis, The Red Man and the White Man in North America, p. 152,
- (dated) Having an existence outside of the natural world.
- 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.
- 1817, William Hazlitt, Characters of Shakespeare's Plays, "Macbeth",
Usage notes[edit]
In modern secular use, refers to extraordinary but still natural phenomena, as in “preternatural talent”. In religious and occult usage, used similarly to supernatural, meaning “outside of nature”, but usually to a lower level than supernatural – it can be used synonymously (identical to supernatural), as a hypernym (a kind of supernatural), or a coordinate term (similar to supernatural, but a distinct category). For example, in Catholic theology, preternatural refers to properties of creatures like angels, while supernatural refers to properties of God alone.
Synonyms[edit]
- (beyond or different from usual): abnormal, exceptional, extraordinary, uncanny
- (not natural): paranormal, supernatural, unnatural
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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References[edit]
- preternatural in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
