Adjacent Words

Supernatural definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SUPERNAT'URAL, a. [super and natural.] Being beyond or exceeding the powers or laws of nature; miraculous. A supernatural event is one which is not produced according to the ordinary or established laws of natural things. Thus if iron has more specific gravity than water, it will sink in that fluid; and the floating of iron on water must be a supernatural event. Now no human being can alter a law of nature; the floating of iron on water therefore must be caused by divine power specially exerted to suspend, in this instance,a law of nature. Hence supernatural events or miracles can be produced only by the immediate agency of divine power.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws; not physical or material; "supernatural forces and occurrences and beings" [ant: natural] n
1: supernatural forces and events and beings collectively; "She doesn't believe in the supernatural" [syn: supernatural, occult]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Medieval Latin supernaturalis, from Latin super- + natura nature Date: 15th century 1. of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe; especially of or relating to God or a god, demigod, spirit, or devil 2. a. departing from what is usual or normal especially so as to appear to transcend the laws of nature b. attributed to an invisible agent (as a ghost or spirit) • supernatural noun • supernaturally adverb • supernaturalness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. attributed to or thought to reveal some force above the laws of nature; magical; mystical. --n. (prec. by the) supernatural, occult, or magical forces, effects, etc. Derivatives: supernaturalism n. supernaturalist n. supernaturalize v.tr. (also -ise). supernaturally adv. supernaturalness n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Supernatural Su`per*nat"u*ral, a. [Pref. super- + natural: cf. OF. supernaturel, F. surnaturel.] Being beyond, or exceeding, the power or laws of nature; miraculous. Syn: Preternatural. Usage: Supernatural, Preternatural. Preternatural signifies beside nature, and supernatural, above or beyond nature. What is very greatly aside from the ordinary course of things is preternatural; what is above or beyond the established laws of the universe is supernatural. The dark day which terrified all Europe nearly a century ago was preternatural; the resurrection of the dead is supernatural. ``That form which the earth is under at present is preternatural, like a statue made and broken again.'' --T. Burnet. ``Cures wrought by medicines are natural operations; but the miraculous ones wrought by Christ and his apostles were supernatural.'' --Boyle. That is supernatural, whether it be, that is either not in the chain of natural cause and effect, or which acts on the chain of cause and effect in nature, from without the chain. --Bushnell. We must not view creation as supernatural, but we do look upon it as miraculous. --McCosh. The supernatural, whatever is above and beyond the scope, or the established course, of the laws of nature. ``Nature and the supernatural.'' --H. Bushnell.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Supernatural creatures, forces, and events are believed by some people to exist or happen, although they are impossible according to scientific laws. The Nakani were evil spirits who looked like humans and possessed supernatural powers. ...supernatural beings. ADJ • The supernatural is things that are supernatural. He writes short stories with a touch of the supernatural. N-SING: the N

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Miraculous, preternatural, above nature, beyond the powers of nature, that exceeds the laws of nature.

Moby Thesaurus

Christlike, Christly, abnormal, airy, anagogic, arcane, asomatous, astral, bodiless, cabalic, cabalistic, celestial, dark, decarnate, decarnated, discarnate, disembodied, divine, ectoplasmic, eerie, eeriness, elfdom, empyrean, esoteric, ethereal, etheric, exceptional, exorbitant, extramundane, extraordinary, extraterrestrial, extravagant, extreme, fabulous, faerie, fey, ghostish, ghostlike, ghostly, ghosty, godlike, godly, heavenly, hypernormal, hyperphysical, immaterial, immoderate, impalpable, imponderable, incarnate, incarnated, incorporate, incorporeal, inexplicable, inordinate, insubstantial, intangible, intercessional, intercessive, made flesh, magical, mediative, mediatory, metaphysic, metaphysical, miraculous, miraculousness, mysterious, mysteriousness, mystery, mystic, nonmaterial, nonphysical, numinous, numinousness, occult, otherworldliness, otherworldly, outstanding, paranormal, phantasmal, phantasmic, phantom, phantomic, phantomlike, phenomenal, preterhuman, preternatural, preternaturalism, preternormal, pretersensual, propitiative, propitiatory, psychic, rare, redemptive, remarkable, salvational, self-existent, shadowy, specterlike, spectral, spiritual, superhuman, superhumanity, superior, supermundane, supernaturalism, supernaturality, supernaturalness, supernature, supernormal, supernormalness, superphysical, superphysicalness, supersensible, supersensibleness, supersensual, supramundane, supranatural, supranaturalism, supranature, the occult, the supernatural, the supersensible, theosophical, theosophist, towering, transcendent, transcendental, transcendentalism, transmundane, ultramundane, uncanny, unconscionable, unearthliness, unearthly, unembodied, unexplainable, unextended, unfleshly, unhuman, unmeasurable, unnatural, unphysical, unreal, unsubstantial, unusual, unworldliness, unworldly, weird, witchery, wraithlike, wraithy