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Macabre vs Supernatural - What's the difference?

macabre | supernatural |

As adjectives the difference between macabre and supernatural

is that macabre is representing or personifying death while supernatural is above nature; that which is beyond or added to nature, often so considered because it is given by a deity or some force beyond that which humans are born with. In Roman Catholic theology, sanctifying grace is considered to be a supernatural addition to human nature.

As a noun supernatural is

a supernatural being.

macabre

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Representing or personifying death.
  • * 1941 , George C. Booth, Mexico's School-made Society , page 106
    • There are four fundamental figures. One is a man measuring and comparing his world In front of him is a macabre figure, a cadaver ready to be dissected. This symbolizes man serving mankind. The third figure is the scientist, the man who makes use of the information gathered in the first two fields of mensurable science.
  • Obsessed with death or the gruesome.
  • * 1993 , Theodore Ziolkowski, "Wagner's Parsifal'' between Mystery and Mummery", ''in'' Werner Sollors (ed.), ''The Return of Thematic Criticism , pages 274-275
    • Indeed, in the 1854 draft of Tristan he planned to have Parzival visit the dying knight, and both operas display the same macabre obsession with bloody gore and festering wounds.
  • Ghastly, shocking, terrifying.
  • * 1927 [1938], , Introduction
    • The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from every-day life.

    Synonyms

    * (ghastly) ghastly, horrifying, shocking, terrifying

    Derived terms

    * danse macabre

    References

    Anagrams

    * English borrowed terms ----

    supernatural

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Above nature; that which is beyond or added to nature, often so considered because it is given by a deity or some force beyond that which humans are born with. In Roman Catholic theology, is considered to be a supernatural addition to human nature.
  • Not of the usual; not natural; altered by forces that are not understood fully if at all.
    • The house is haunted by supernatural forces.
  • Neither visible nor measurable.

    • Synonyms

    * extraordinary, paranormal, preternatural, supranatural, unnatural

    Antonyms

    * ordinary * natural

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (countable) A supernatural being.
  • (uncountable) Supernatural beings and events collectively.
  • * 2012 , Blake Morrison, The Guardian , [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/20/blake-morrison-under-the-witches-spell?INTCMP=SRCH]:
    • Dr Johnson defended Shakespeare's use of the supernatural from the charge of implausibility on the grounds that, "The reality of witchcraft … has in all ages and countries been credited by the common people, and in most by the learned."