Preternatural Definition
preternatural
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary Jump to: navigation, search WOTD - 9 August 2008
Contents |
English
Alternative spellings
- praeternatural
Etymology
From Latin preternaturalis/praeternaturalis from praeter nātūram from praeter (“beyond”) + nātūra (“nature”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
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, [...]
- 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. 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.
- 1817, William Hazlitt, Characters of Shakespeare's Plays, "Macbeth",
Synonyms
- (beyond or different): uncanny
Derived terms
References
- preternatural in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
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The preternatural or praeternatural is that which appears outside or beside (Latin præter) the natural.
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