preternature

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From preter- +‎ nature, after preternatural.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /pɹiːtəˈneɪtʃə/

Noun

preternature (uncountable)

  1. (rare) The realm beyond the natural; the preternatural. [from 19th c.]
    • 1842, Edgar Allan Poe, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt:
      In my own heart there dwells no faith in preter-nature.
    • 1997, Stuart Clark, Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe, page 263:
      We can speak here too, then, of pressure and, indeed, encroachment by the category of preternature on territory previously occupied by the miraculous.
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