Sū'per-nāt'ū-ral, a.

a. [Prefix super and natural.] Being beyond, or exceeding, the powers or laws of nature; miraculous.

Synonyms— Preternatural.— SUPERNATURAL, PRETERNATURAL. Preternatural signifies beside nature, and supernatural, above or beyond nature. What is very greatly aside from the ordinary course of things is preternatural: what is above or beyond the established laws of the universe is supernatural. The dark day which terrified all Europe nearly a century ago was preternatural; the resurrection of the dead is supernatural. “That form which the earth is under at present is preternatural, like a statue made and broken again.” Burnet. “Cures wrought by medicines are natural operations; but the miraculous ones wrought by Christ and his apostles were supernatural.” Boyle.