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

Without provocation ab extra, without warning on their own part, suddenly they place themselves in an attitude of desperate defiance to the known law of the land.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXVI. October, 1843. Vol. LIV. by Various

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

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)

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