superman

American  

[soo-per-man] / ˈsu pərˌmæn /

noun

plural

supermen

1. a person of extraordinary or superhuman powers.

2. an ideal superior being conceived by Nietzsche who attains happiness, dominance, and creativity.

3. a superior being conceived as the product of human evolution.

4. one who prevails by virtue of being a ruthless egoist of superior strength, cunning, and force of will.

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superman British  

/ ˈsuːpəˌmæn /

noun

1. (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

2. any man of apparently superhuman powers

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Superman ¹ Cultural  

1. 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.

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Superman ² Cultural  

1. 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.

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Gender

See -man.

Discover More

Superman has been adapted for various radio and television series and a number of highly successful films.

Etymology

Origin of superman

1900–05; super- + man, translation of German Übermensch

Example Sentences

Allen finished with 394 yards, with two passing and two rushing touchdowns, in another superman performance in an incredible game that somehow surpassed the hype that surrounded a meeting between the last two league MVPs.

From BBC • Sep. 8, 2025

He's 77 years old and doesn't take care of his health, probably because thinks doing that would be doing an admission that he's not the genetic superman he so often claims to be.

From Salon • Apr. 16, 2024

At the center of this universe sits Papageno, a colorful, intractably disorderly oddball in muddied outdoor gear, an everyman turned unlikely superman who, in spurning the cultural mores that would shackle him, rises above them.

From New York Times • May 21, 2023

A video of a small child dressed in a superman costume riding his bike around Chile's President Gabriel Boric in mid-speech has gone viral.

From Reuters • Sep. 7, 2022

That day, Jeremie, I am so happy I drag cane like angel, like superman, I am fast; I am magic; I have wings to work.

From "Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti" by Frances Temple