Preternatural

Definition: Preternatural

Preternatural

Adjective

1. Surpassing the ordinary or normal; "Beyond his preternatural affability there is some acid and some steel"- George Will.

2. Existing outside of or not in accordance with nature; "find transcendental motives for sublunary action"-Aldous Huxley.

Date "preternatural" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1601. (references)

Note: Preternatural \Pre`ter*nat"u*ral\, adjective. [Prefix preter natural.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Preternatural

Synonyms: nonnatural (adj), otherworldly (adj), transcendental (adj). (additional references)

The preternatural or praeternatural labels things or events which appear outside (Latin praeter) the bounds of nature as currently understood. One could consider that such matters belong in science's "too-difficult" basket.

The supernatural forms a sub-set of the preternatural, and assumes higher or mysterious powers.

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Unconformity	Unusual, unaccustomed, uncustomary, unwonted, uncommon; rare, curious, odd, extraordinary, out of the ordinary; strange, monstrous; wonderful; unexpected, unaccountable; outre, out of the way, remarkable, noteworthy; queer, quaint, nondescript, none such, sui generis; unfashionable; fantastic, grotesque, bizarre; outlandish, exotic, tombe des nues, preternatural; denaturalized.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Preternatural

English words defined with "preternatural": Aneurism ♦ Cross-birth ♦ Elritch ♦ livid ♦ Preter-, Preternaturalism, Preternaturalness ♦ The marvelous. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Preternatural" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Portuguese (preternatural), Spanish (preternatural).

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	But all my passion went with the golden hair, and all the spirit of preternatural flesh detached, unchangeable, empty. (Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles; writing credit: Anne Rice)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	A Study of the Preternatural Fiction of Sheridan Le Fanu and Its Impact upon the Tales of Montague Rhodes James (reference) Escape If You Can: 13 Tales of the Preternatural (reference) Irish Witchcraft & Demonology (Classics of Preternatural History) (reference) Preternatural (reference) Preternatural 3 (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

"Preternatural" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Preternatural" is used about 7 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	100%	7	133,076

Expression using "preternatural": preternatural insight. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "preternatural"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		jonormal (aberrant, abnormal), i mbinatyrshëm (eldritch, magic, magical, miraculous, supernatural, unearthly). (various references)

Arabic		‏غير سوي (anomalous, unnatural), ‏غير طبيعي (off color, off colour, seedy, unnatural, violent, weird), ‏خارق للطبيعة (metaphysical, uncanny, unearthly), ‏شاذ (aberrant, anomalous, atypical, bastard, bizarre, eccentric, erratic, exotic, extraordinary, extravagant, far fetched, freak, intriguing, irregular, monstrous, moonstruck, odd, off beat, outlandish, prodigious, queer, rogue, scatty, singular, stupendous, thumping, wild). (various references)

Bulgarian		свръхестествен (eerie, hyperphysical, metaphysical, miraculous, occult, spiritual, supernatural, supersensible, transcendental, uncanny, unearthly, unnatural, weird). (various references)

Czech		nadpřirozený (supernatural, unearthly, weird). (various references)

Danish		ileumfistel (iliac anus, iliac preternatural anus), enløbet ileostomi (iliac anus, iliac preternatural anus). (various references)

Dutch		anus praeter iliacus (iliac anus, iliac preternatural anus). (various references)

French		surnaturel. (various references)

German		übernatürlich (miraculous, supernatural, supernaturally, unearthly, weird). (various references)

Greek		υπερφυσικόσ (supernatural, transcendental, unearthly). (various references)

Hebrew		על טבעי (supernatural). (various references)

Hungarian		természetfölötti (supernatural). (various references)

Indonesian		luar biasa (colossal, exceptional, extraordinary, formidable, immensely, incredible, phenomenal, remarkable, unbelievable). (various references)

Italian		sovrannaturale (supernatural). (various references)

Pig Latin		eternaturalpray

Portuguese		preternatural, sobrenatural (daemonic, demonic, eldritch, mystical, supernatural, weird). (various references)

Romanian		supranatural (miraculous, occult, supernatural, unearthly, weird), nenatural (affected, artificially, stilted, unnatural). (various references)

Russian		сверхъестественный (eerie, eldritch, miraculous, supernatural, uncanny, unearthly, unholy). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		natprirodni. (various references)

Spanish		preternatural. (various references)

Swedish		onaturlig (artificial, constrained, morbid, perverted, unnatural), övernaturlig (occult, supernal, supernatural, weird). (various references)

Turkish		olağandışı (abnormal, extraordinary, offbeat, out of the common, out of the ordinary, out of the way, singular, uncommon, unusual, unwonted), olağanüstü (above the ordinary, breathtaking, classical, dreamy, exceeding, exceptional, extra, extraordinary, extreme, fantastic, fantastical, glorious, huge, incredible, marvellous, marvelous, miraculous, necromantic, out of this world, paramount, phenomenal, portentous, prodigious, rare, raving, remarkable, shining, smashing, special, spectacular, splendid, sublime, supernatural, supernormal, terrific, unearthly), doğaüstü (metaphysical, occult, supernatural, superphysical, unearthly), anormal (aberrant, abnormal, anomalous, freak, freakish, unnatural). (various references)

Ukrainian		винятковий (egregious, especial, exceptional, exceptive, exclusive, only, particular, single, singular, surpassing), надприродний (eldritch, non-natural, superior, supernatural, uncanny). (various references)

Vietnamese		phi ph� m (preterhuman), siêu nhân (preterhuman, superman). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	anus praeter naturam. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "preternatural": preternaturally, preternaturalness, preternaturalnesses. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Preternatural" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: parenateral, perternatural, pertrenatural, preeternatural, preternatiral, preturnatural. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Words rhyming with "preternatural" (pronounced 'Pre`ter*nat"u*ral'): Aboral, Accipitral, Adambulacral, Admiral, Ambidextral, Ambulacral, Ammiral, Amphitheatral, Amphoral, Ancestral, Antambulacral, Antemural, Antral, Arbitral, Asymmetral, Augural, Auroral, Bicorporal, Bicrural, Bimembral, Binaural, Biventral, Cadastral, Caesural, Caporal, Central, Centumviral, Cesural, Chaparral, Circumlittoral, Cloistral, Commissural, Concho-spiral, Conirostral, Connatural, Contranatural, Counternatural, Crural, Cubo-octahedral, Cultirostral, Curvirostral, Cynosural, Decahedral, Decemviral, Dextral, Dural, Duumviral, Fissirostral, Flexural, Floral. (additional references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-e-e-l-n-p-r-r-r-t-t-u"
	-3 letters: parenteral.
	-4 letters: alternate, enrapture, prelature, prereturn, repattern, ultrarare.
	-5 letters: alterant, anteater, aperture, larruper, laureate, narrater, palterer, panetela, parental, parlante, parterre, paternal, patterer, patulent, petulant, prattler, prenatal, prerenal, pretreat, putterer, rattener, relearnt, renature, returner, tarletan, ureteral.
	Words containing the letters "a-a-e-e-l-n-p-r-r-r-t-t-u"
	+2 letters: preternaturally.
	+4 letters: preternaturalness.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.