Preternatural

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Preternatural \Pre`ter*nat"u*ral\ (?; 135), a. [Pref. preter +
     natural.]
     Beyond of different from what is natural, or according to the
     regular course of things, but not clearly supernatural or
     miraculous; strange; inexplicable; extraordinary; uncommon;
     irregular; abnormal; as, a preternatural appearance; a


     preternatural stillness; a preternatural presentation (in
     childbirth) or labor.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           This vile and preternatural temper of mind. --South.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: See {Supernatural}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  preternatural
       adj 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
          [syn: {nonnatural}, {otherworldly}, {transcendental}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  43 Moby Thesaurus words for "preternatural":
     aberrant, anomalous, arcane, atypical, deviant, deviative, eerie,
     esoteric, extramundane, extraterrestrial, fey, heteroclite,
     hypernormal, hyperphysical, miraculous, mysterious, nonnatural,
     numinous, occult, otherworldly, preterhuman, preternormal,
     pretersensual, psychic, spiritual, superhuman, superior,
     supermundane, supernatural, supernormal, superphysical,
     supersensible, supersensual, supramundane, supranatural,
     transcendental, transmundane, unearthly, unhuman, unnatural,
     unrepresentative, untypical, unworldly