Better Gutenberg
Free, beautifully formatted public-domain ebooks

English Synonyms and Antonyms

by James Champlin Fernald

586 of 1101 · Contents · Download EPUB

Supernatural.

Synonyms:

miraculous, preternatural, superhuman.

The supernatural (super, above) is above or superior to the recognized powers of nature; the preternatural (preter, beyond) is aside from or beyond the recognized results or operations of natural law, often in the sense of inauspicious; as, a preternatural gloom. Miraculous is more emphatic and specific than supernatural, as referring to the direct personal intervention of divine power. Some hold that a miracle, as the raising of the dead, is a direct suspension and even violation of natural laws by the fiat of the Creator, and hence is, in the strictest sense, supernatural; others hold that the miracle is simply the calling forth of a power residing in the laws of nature, but not within their ordinary operation, and dependent on a distinct act of God, so that the miraculous might be termed "extranatural," rather than supernatural. All that is beyond human power is superhuman; as, prophecy gives evidence of superhuman knowledge; the word is sometimes applied to remarkable manifestations of human power, surpassing all that is ordinary.

Antonyms:

common, commonplace, everyday, natural, ordinary, usual.

← Back to English Synonyms and Antonyms

Scroll to Top