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• superman
  superman

  noun

  a person of extraordinary or superhuman powers.
• Superman
  Superman

  A seemingly immortal, superhuman comic-strip character created in the late 1930s, who hides his powers beneath the persona of Clark Kent, a mild-mannered newspaper reporter. Only when there is a threat of danger — often to his fellow reporter and secret love, Lois Lane — does Clark transform himself into the caped hero with x-ray vision.

superman

American  

[soo-per-man] / ˈsu pərˌmæn /

noun

supermen plural

1. a person of extraordinary or superhuman powers.

2. an ideal superior being conceived by Nietzsche who attains happiness, dominance, and creativity.

3. a superior being conceived as the product of human evolution.

4. one who prevails by virtue of being a ruthless egoist of superior strength, cunning, and force of will.

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superman British  

/ ˈsuːpəˌmæn /

noun

1. (in the philosophy of Nietzsche) an ideal man who through integrity and creativity would rise above good and evil and who represents the goal of human evolution

2. any man of apparently superhuman powers

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Superman ¹ Cultural  

1. A seemingly immortal, superhuman comic-strip character created in the late 1930s, who hides his powers beneath the persona of Clark Kent, a mild-mannered newspaper reporter. Only when there is a threat of danger — often to his fellow reporter and secret love, Lois Lane — does Clark transform himself into the caped hero with x-ray vision.

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Superman ² Cultural  

1. An ideal of humanity found in Thus Spake Zarathustra, by Friedrich Nietzsche. The Superman, or Overman (the German is Übermensch), is the single goal of all human striving, for which people must be willing to sacrifice all. It is doubtful that Nietzsche thought of the Overman as an individual person.

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Gender

See -man.

Discover More

Superman has been adapted for various radio and television series and a number of highly successful films.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• supermen
  plural

Etymology

Origin of superman

1900–05; super- + man, translation of German Übermensch

Explanation

Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...Superman! As you might be able to guess from this comic book hero's name, a superman is a person with great strength or power beyond that of ordinary humans. The term superman was originally a translation of the German Übermensch, literally "overman." This first superman was a philosophical concept, an ideal human for ordinary people to aspire to. Through the 1920s and 30s, it was common to describe a great athlete or brilliant politician as a superman. In 1938, the crime-fighting, cape-wearing Superman first appeared in comic book form. Superman is credited with being the original superhero.

Example Sentences

"Viewers were so used to the Stallone/Schwarzenegger/Chuck Norris-type superman characters that the sight of a hero muttering to himself and even tearing up was startling," Seitz observed.

From Salon • Jul. 18, 2023

At the center of this universe sits Papageno, a colorful, intractably disorderly oddball in muddied outdoor gear, an everyman turned unlikely superman who, in spurning the cultural mores that would shackle him, rises above them.

From New York Times • May 21, 2023

Pallotta, 50, who signs his work Maupal, shot to fame 10 years ago when he painted the pope as a flying superman on a wall in Rome's Borgo neighbourhood across the street from the Vatican.

From Reuters • Mar. 13, 2023

If he can, then he really is superman, because side strains are horrible injuries for fast bowlers to endure.

From BBC • Jan. 9, 2022

That day, Jeremie, I am so happy I drag cane like angel, like superman, I am fast; I am magic; I have wings to work.

From "Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti" by Frances Temple