Meaning

Beyond or not conforming to what is natural or according to the regular course of things; strange..

Definitions by Sense

1. Beyond or not conforming to what is natural or according to the regular course of things; strange.
2. (dated) Having an existence outside of the natural world.

Example Sentences

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.

Doubtless there has been some exaggeration in the picturesque and fanciful relations of the almost preternatural skill and cunning of the Indian […]

"Villette! Villette! wrote George Eliot. "It is a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre. There is something almost preternatural in its power."

D.B. Woodside as Amenadiel: "Something Charlotte said made me think. Maybe celestial beings and humans, Luci maybe they aren't that different." Tom Ellis as Lucifer Morningstar: "What, are we talking in bed? 'Cause we know all know my skills are preternatural. But I suppose you on the other hand..."

Macbeth is like a record of a preternatural and tragical event.

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, [...]

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.

Word Forms

• more preternatural
• most preternatural
• praeternatural
• præternatural

Synonyms for preternatural

Related Words

When Should You Use Preternatural?

Use preternatural when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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