superman
- a person of extraordinary or superhuman powers.
- an ideal superior being conceived by Nietzsche who attains happiness, dominance, and creativity.
- a superior being conceived as the product of human evolution.
- one who prevails by virtue of being a ruthless egoist of superior strength, cunning, and force of will.
Origin of superman
Usage note
Examples from the Web for superman
Contemporary Examples
Can you imagine Superman being handed over to a writer just a notch above amateur?
That all-American iconography has always been so potent in the Superman myth.
Christopher Nolan Uncut: On ‘Interstellar,’ Ben Affleck’s Batman, and the Future of MankindMarlow Stern
November 10, 2014
When she joins Batman and Superman in the Justice Society of America, she does so as secretary.
Wonder Woman’s Creation Story Is Wilder Than You Could Ever ImagineTom Arnold-Forster
November 3, 2014
Marston wrote that Wonder Woman needed “all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.”
Wonder Woman’s Creation Story Is Wilder Than You Could Ever ImagineTom Arnold-Forster
November 3, 2014
On the top shelf, sandwiched between Detective Comics No.27 and Superman No.1, are three issues of Actions Comics No.1.
Historical Examples
I took a bold step and asked if the Superman was nice looking.
Alarms and DiscursionsG. K. Chesterton
Nietzsche would have welcomed him as his superman incarnate!
War Letters of a Public-School BoyPaul Jones.
Indeed, he was always not only human, but superhuman; not only a man, but superman.
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, CompleteAlbert Bigelow Paine
I'm not the—shall we say—the superman he is; perhaps I never will be.
Suite MentaleGordon Randall Garrett
To-day the Kaiser claims to have won the victory of "a superman."
The Blot on the Kaiser's 'ScutcheonNewell Dwight Hillis
superman
- (in the philosophy of Nietzsche) an ideal man who through integrity and creativity would rise above good and evil and who represents the goal of human evolution
- any man of apparently superhuman powers
Word Origin and History for superman
n.
1903, coined by George Bernard Shaw to translate German Übermensch, "highly evolved human being that transcends good and evil," from "Thus Spake Zarathustra" (1883-91), by Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). First used in German by Hermann Rab (1520s), and also used by Herder and Goethe. Translated as overman (1895) and beyond-man (1896) before Shaw got it right in his play title "Man and Superman" (1903). Application to comic strip hero is from 1938.
So was created ... Superman! champion of the oppressed, the physical marvel who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need! ["Action Comics," June 1, 1938]
Superwoman first recorded 1976 in the sense of "one who combines career and motherhood."
Superman
A seemingly immortal, superhuman comic-strip character created in the late 1930s, who hides his powers beneath the persona of Clark Kent, a mild-mannered newspaper reporter. Only when there is a threat of danger — often to his fellow reporter and secret love, Lois Lane — does Clark transform himself into the caped hero with x-ray vision.
Note
Superman
An ideal of humanity found in Thus Spake Zarathustra, by Friedrich Nietzsche. The Superman, or Overman (the German is Übermensch), is the single goal of all human striving, for which people must be willing to sacrifice all. It is doubtful that Nietzsche thought of the Overman as an individual person.