The AI-powered English dictionary
comparative more preternatural, superlative most preternatural
Beyond or not conforming to what is natural or according to the regular course of things; strange. quotations examples
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
"Villette! Villette! wrote George Eliot. "It is a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre. There is something almost preternatural in its power."
2014 January 4, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, “The other Charlotte Brontë girl ”, in The Daily Telegraph, London, page R14
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..."
2018, “Quintessential Deckerstar”, in Lucifer
(dated) Having an existence outside of the natural world. quotations examples
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
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