What does the word preternatural mean?

    Part of speech: adverb

  • Preternaturally.

  • Part of speech: adjective

  • Beyond what is natural.

Usage examples for preternatural

  1. A gentleman, however gallant and familiar, will hardly ever be as much beloved, until he dies to inform a legend or a ballad: seeing that death only can remove the peculiar distinctions and distances which the people feel to exist between themselves and the gentleman- class, and which, not to credit them with preternatural discernment, they are carefully taught to feel. – The Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith by George Meredith
  2. This preternatural certainty of happiness was so complete that the chilling disappointments of the last few days had melted before it like frost in the sunlight. – Virginia by Ellen Glasgow
  3. In her religious heart, might there not be some shadow of an ancient superstition, some mystical, instinctive strain, in which the preternatural is resolved? – The Book of Khalid by Ameen Rihani