ab extra

American  

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

adverb

Latin.

1. from the outside.

---

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

Those who are so fortunate as to occupy the philosophical position of spectators ab extra are very few in any generation.

From Among My Books First Series by Lowell, James Russell

He clothes reason with authority to determine what is inspiration, by saying that there can be no revelation "ab extra."

From History of Rationalism Embracing a Survey of the Present State of Protestant Theology by Hurst, J. F. (John Fletcher)

I solicit from the friend who accompanied Mr. Edgerton the thoroughest statement which he can give me of the case, ab extra.

From The Opium Habit by Day, Horace B.

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