preternaturally
Americanadverb
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in a way or to a degree that is beyond the ordinary course of nature; exceptionally or abnormally.
Her voice, preternaturally deep, resonated off the walls like a terrible storm.
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in a supernatural way or to a supernatural degree.
The demons in this movie are of course preternaturally strong.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of preternaturally
Explanation
When something happens preternaturally, it's extremely unusual — you could even say it's strange and mysterious. If your dog is preternaturally smart, you may feel like she understands every word you say. This adverb is commonly used to describe things that happen in a bizarre or extraordinary way, particularly if they're hard to explain. A magician may cause your friend to appear to hover preternaturally above the ground, for example. Sometimes its use signals that you can't quite believe your eyes: "Those redwood trees were preternaturally enormous!" The Latin root is praeter naturam, "beyond nature."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Preternaturally artistic, he drew the concern of his parents at an early age.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 7, 2019
Preternaturally beautiful, these startling-looking objects have appeared on fashion runways and design fairs, and live in the permanent collections of museums of both art and science, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian.
From New York Times • Oct. 6, 2018
Preternaturally gifted composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived here and they don’t let you forget it.
From Salon • Jul. 26, 2015
Preternaturally poised three years earlier, as the teen murderess in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures, she had essayed classical roles in Sense and Sensibility and Jude and as Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet.
From Time • Apr. 4, 2012
Preternaturally bright they were, with the breathless look that betrays the ebbing shore of life, yet full of eager desire to remain.
From In Wild Rose Time by Douglas, Amanda M.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
