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

An impulse ab extra seems in a vast number of instances to be necessary, to promote the good of both nations and individuals.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 435 Volume 17, New Series, May 1, 1852 by Chambers, Robert

Milton is the deity of prescience; he stands ab extra, and drives a fiery chariot and four, making the horses feel the iron curb which holds them in.

From Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Coleridge, Henry Nelson

It is true that in hypnotic experiments there is commonly some preliminary process by which the peculiar condition is induced, and that the idea which originates the delusion has then to be suggested ab extra.

From The Problems of Psychical Research Experiments and Theories in the Realm of the Supernormal by Carrington, Hereward

Contrary to universal experience elsewhere, elephants in Burmah breed in captivity, but this union was unfertile and the race of "Lord White Elephants" had to be maintained ab extra.

From Camps, Quarters, and Casual Places by Forbes, Archibald