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Preternatural vs Surreal - What's the difference?

preternatural | surreal |

As adjectives the difference between preternatural and surreal

is that preternatural is beyond or different from what is natural or according to the regular course of things; strange; inexplicable; extraordinary; abnormal while surreal is resembling a dream: fantastic and incongruous.

As a noun surreal is

(math) surreal number.

preternatural

English

(wikipedia preternatural)

Alternative forms

* praeternatural * (archaic)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Beyond or different from what is natural or according to the regular course of things; strange; inexplicable; extraordinary; abnormal.
  • * 1882 , , The Red Man and the White Man in North America , p. 152,
    • Doubtless there has been some exaggeration in the picturesque and fanciful relations of the almost preternatural skill and cunning of the Indian, [...]
  • * '>citation
  • (dated) Having an existence outside of the natural world.
  • * 1817 , ",
    • Macbeth is like a record of a preternatural and tragical event.
  • * 1860 , ,
    • Not Leonore, in that preternatural midnight excursion with her phantom lover, was more terrified than poor Maggie in this entirely natural ride on a short-paced donkey, [...]
  • * 1925 , ",
    • Vansittart Smith, fixing his eyes upon the fellow's skin, was conscious of a sudden impression that there was something inhuman and preternatural about its appearance.

    Usage notes

    In modern secular use, refers to extraordinary but still natural phenomena, as in “preternatural' talent”. In religious and occult usage, used similarly to supernatural, meaning “outside of nature”, but usually to a lower level than (term) – it can be used synonymously (identical to supernatural), as a hypernym (a kind of supernatural), or a coordinate term (similar to supernatural, but a distinct category). For example, in Catholic theology, ' preternatural refers to properties of creatures like angels, while (term) refers to properties of God alone.

    Synonyms

    * (beyond or different from usual) abnormal, exceptional, extraordinary, uncanny * (not natural) paranormal, supernatural, unnatural

    Derived terms

    * preternaturally

    References

    *

    surreal

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Resembling a dream: fantastic and incongruous

    • Related terms

    * real

    Derived terms

    * surrealism * surrealist * surreality * surreally * surreal number

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (math) surreal number
    • ----