preternatural
adjective
G. L. Dickinson
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Preternatural derives from the Latin phrase praeter naturam, which means "beyond nature." Medieval Latin scholars rendered the term as praeternaturalis, and that form inspired the modern English version. Unusual things are sometimes considered positive and sometimes negative, and throughout its history preternatural has been used to refer to both exceptionally good things and unnaturally evil ones. In its earliest documented uses in the 1500s, it tended to emphasize the strange, ominous, or foreboding, but by the 1700s, people were using it more benignly to refer to fascinating supernatural (or even heavenly) phenomena. Nowadays, people regularly use it to describe the remarkable abilities of exceptional humans.
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Examples of preternatural in a Sentence
Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 2 Oct. 2024
Stroud sees the field and throws receivers open with a preternatural anticipation.
—Michael Shapiro, Chron, 18 Sep. 2024
What marked them out as Olympians was their preternatural ability to find these pratfalls hilarious.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2024
Bernanke’s preternatural calm may have helped overcome the opposition of some Fed board members and congressional overseers to significant quantitative easing.
—Adam S. Posen, Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2015
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“Preternatural.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preternatural. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.
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preternatural
adjective
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