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

Ecclesiastical figures abound in his pages, jolly friars, holy hermits, lordly prelates, grim inquisitors, abbots, priors, and priests of all descriptions, but all somewhat conventional and viewed ab extra.

From A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century by Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)

I do not mean by that, abuse ab extra.

From Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z by Various

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

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)