preternatural
Syllables: preter·nat·u·ralUK/ˌpɹiː.təˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə)ɹ.əl//ˌpɹi.tɚˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə)ɹ.əl/
preternatural adjective: beyond or not conforming to what is natural or according to the regular course of things; strange.
Adjective
preternatural (comparative more preternatural, superlative most preternatural)
- Beyond or not conforming to what is natural or according to the regular course of things; strange.
- I have employed cold air, and very often spongings with cold water, in order to moderate the preternatural heat of the skin, and to check the increased velocity of the circulation.1815, William Shearman, New Medical and Physical Journal
- 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, page 152
- Synonyms:
- inexplicable, exceptional, extraordinary, abnormal, uncanny
- Having an existence outside the natural world.
- Macbeth is like a record of a preternatural and tragical event.1817, William Hazlitt, “Macbeth”, in Characters of Shakespeare's Plays
- 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, [...]1860, George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, Book 1, Chapter 11
- Synonyms:
- paranormal, supernatural, unnatural
preternatural meaning in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada
preternatural in Tamil
- இயற்கை கடந்த
preternatural in Malayalam
- exceptional, extraordinary, unusual
- പ്രകൃത്യതീതമായ, അലൗകികമായ, അന്യസാധാരണ, അസാധാരണ, സാമാന്യാതീതം, ക്രമാതീതം
preternatural in Kannada
- ಅಸ್ವಾಭಾವಿಕ, ಅಲೌಕಿಕ
Examples of preternatural in a sentence
- There is something almost preternatural in its power."2014 January 4, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, “The other Charlotte Brontë girl [online version (3 January 2014): Why Villette is better than Jane...
- 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.1925, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Ring of Thoth:
Synonyms of preternatural
Forms of preternatural
| comparative | more preternatural |
|---|---|
| superlative | most preternatural |
| alternative form | praeternatural |
| alternative form (archaic) | præternatural |
Origin of preternatural
From preter- + natural, after Latin prēternātūrālis/praeternātūrālis, from praeter nātūram, from praeter (“beyond”) + nātūra (“nature”); compare supernatural.
Words formed from preternatural
Questions about preternatural
- What does preternatural mean?
- Preternatural means beyond or not conforming to what is natural or according to the regular course of things; strange.
- What is preternatural in Tamil?
- Preternatural in Tamil is இயற்கை கடந்த. See Preternatural meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use preternatural in a sentence?
- There is something almost preternatural in its power."
- What part of speech is preternatural?
- Preternatural is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce preternatural?
- Preternatural is pronounced /ˌpɹiː.təˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə)ɹ.əl/ (UK).
Words near preternatural in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: preternatural (page history and authors); preternatural (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); preternatural (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); preternatural (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-preternatural.ogg.
Cite this entry: “preternatural.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/preternatural. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.