preternatural

Questions about preternatural

What does preternatural mean?

preternatural means "surpassing the ordinary or normal". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in preternatural?

preternatural has 5 syllables and divides as pre-ter-na-tu-ral under the regular spelling rules. It is not in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so that comes from how the word is written rather than from a recorded pronunciation, and no stress or phonetic transcription is claimed for it.

What is another word for preternatural?

Close synonyms include uncanny, nonnatural, otherworldly, transcendental. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is preternatural a common word?

preternatural is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.