Word of the Day

: February 1, 2009

preternatural

adjective pree-ter-NATCH-uh-rul

What It Means

1 : existing outside of nature

2 : exceeding what is natural or regular : extraordinary

3 : inexplicable by ordinary means; especially : psychic

preternatural in Context

Louis Armstrong's preternatural talent set him apart from the other musicians of his day, and his style and compositions have influenced generations of performers.

Did You Know?

"Preternatural" derives from the Latin "praeter naturam," which means "beyond nature." In the 1200s, Medieval Latin scholars rendered the term as "praeternaturalis," and that form inspired the modern English version. Unusual things are sometimes considered positive and sometimes negative, and throughout its history "preternatural" has been used to refer to both exceptionally good things and unnaturally evil ones. In its earliest documented uses in the 1500s, it tended to emphasize the strange, ominous, or foreboding, but by the 1700s, people were using it more benignly to refer to fascinating supernatural (or even heavenly) phenomena. Nowadays, people even use it to describe the remarkable abilities of exceptional humans.