ab extra

American  

[ahb ek-strah, ab ek-struh] / ɑb ˈɛk strɑ, æb ˈɛk strə /

adverb

Latin.

1. from the outside.

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Example Sentences

"It seems to me," he said, "that there is a guiding and directing principle ab extra which interacts with the material of the physical universe but is not of it."

From Time Magazine Archive

Viewed ab extra, there is no doubt the boldest policy is the best.

From The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Volume 1 by Gwynn, Stephen Lucius

It was a strange position for a young woman to be in—that of watcher over the marriage relations of two persons, to neither of whom she could be a friend otherwise than ab extra.

From Paul Faber, Surgeon by MacDonald, George

But in most English humor,--as indeed in all English literature except the very highest,--the social class to which the writer does not belong is regarded ab extra.

From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 6 by Mabie, Hamilton Wright

It is this character of life, I say, that so easily leads us to look upon it as something ab extra, or super-added to matter, and not an evolution from it.

From The Breath of Life by Burroughs, John