paranormal

[ par-uh-nawr-muhl ]

adjective

1. of or relating to the claimed occurrence of an event or perception without scientific explanation, as psychokinesis, extrasensory perception, or other purportedly supernatural phenomena.

paranormal

/ ˌpærəˈnɔːməl /

adjective

1. beyond normal explanation

noun

1. the paranormal
   the paranormal paranormal happenings generally

Other Words From

• para·normal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of paranormal¹

First recorded in 1915–20; para- ¹ + normal

Example Sentences

While it was Halloween last week, that sort of “ghostly” string behavior would simply have been too paranormal.

From FiveThirtyEight

It definitely didn’t begin with grand ideas about human psychology and the paranormal, or about flaws and acceptance.

From Washington Post

“A lot of people don’t want to talk about the paranormal because they’re scared what other people will think,” she said.

From Washington Post

Some evidence even suggests that people with underlying brain disorders tend to have paranormal confrontations that are more intense and negative than the average brush with the beyond.

From Popular-Science

This “feeling of a presence” phenomenon has more general implications for the hard-to-study field of the paranormal too.

From Popular-Science

His weeknight program, “Coast-to-Coast AM,” discussed aliens, paranormal activity, and shadowy government cover-ups.

From The Daily Beast

After a decade of managing the Borden home, Wilber is chock-full of stories of hauntings and paranormal sightings.

From The Daily Beast

In her memoir, Giving Up the Ghost, Mantel writes of her own childhood encounters with the paranormal.

From The Daily Beast

They have had a spiritual or numinous or paranormal experience at some point in their own lives.

From The Daily Beast

Paranormalsocieties.com, an online national paranormal directory, has over 4,000 paranormal groups registered to its website.

From The Daily Beast

They were fellow pariahs, Suspended for one reason or another from paraNormal privileges.

From Project Gutenberg

As for photographs, I have never obtained any paranormal ones.

From Project Gutenberg

But my principle is not to let these considerations have any weight, when judging of a paranormal fact.

From Project Gutenberg

I have just pointed out in detail certain purely physical processes for provoking the production of paranormal phenomena.

From Project Gutenberg

There is a synergy between their movements and their muscular contractions and the forthcoming paranormal movements.

From Project Gutenberg