Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Below what is natural; less than natural; subnatural.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word subternatural.

Examples

  • Disease itself is, of course, in one sense natural, as being the result of natural causes; but if we assume health as the mean representing the normal poise of all the mental facilities, we must be content to call hypochondria subternatural, because the tone of the instrument is lowered, and to designate as supernatural only those ecstasies in which the mind, under intense but not unhealthy excitement, is snatched sometimes above itself, as in poets and other persons of imaginative temperament.

    Among My Books First Series James Russell Lowell 1855

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.