This was my own question in this word confusion, what with all the fantasy novels I love, especially when Anita Blake keeps partnering up with the Regional Preternatural Investigation Team. What the heck does preternatural mean? In fact, what is the difference between paranormal, preternatural, and supernatural?
Besides all three being adjectives, all the definitions relate back to the oldest word of the three, supernatural. But what makes paranormal and preternatural necessary? I wanted to know how these two words could be more specific than supernatural.
From what I’ve dug up, paranormal is not scientifically explainable, part of a non-scientific body of knowledge that appears in popular culture and folklore. It appears to put emphasis on psychic gifts such as clairvoyancy, ESP, psychometry, telekinetics, astral projection, dowsing, precognition, telepathy, divination, psychic surgery, etc.
Preternatural is extraordinary, unusual. It can incorporate the paranormal or be applied to people or events that are outside the normal. People like Bernhard Riemann, Hawking, Bach, da Vinci, Einstein, Michelangelo, Xian Xinghai, Notorious B.I.G., Darwin, Thomas Jefferson, Mozart, Robert Johnson, Beethoven, Marie Curie, Johannes Kepler, Ada Lovelace, Jobs, to name a very few whose brains and achievements changed how we saw the world.
Supernatural literally means beyond natural and was the original term that referred to “that which is not subject to the laws of physics”, most notably God, gods, demons, angels, ghosts, shapeshifters, etc.
Book Genres
In writing and reading, books are divided into genres, a category of literature characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. In this case, paranormal, preternatural, and supernatural come under the fantasy heading, although preternatural doesn’t have its own subcategory. You may want to explore genres to delve into fantasy’s multiple subcategories — it’s fascinating!
The category Fantasy encompasses all things supernatural. Be aware that genres frequently mix things up and include other genres to create a mash-up, including science fiction fantasy, a sub-genre of science fiction, as well as romances, thrillers, mysteries, etc.
Paranormal is the only subcategory and is itself split off into paranormal fantasy, paranormal romance, and paranormal thriller.
Now, urban fantasy does incorporate the paranormal and supernatural, with magic as the story’s focus, but where normal people aren’t aware that magic of any sort exists.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Paranormal | Preternatural | Supernatural |
|---|---|---|
The Crystal Ball is an oil painting by John William Waterhouse and is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — Clairvoyance is considered a paranormal ability. |
Stephen Hawking courtesy of NASA and StarChild Learning Center is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — Stephen Hawking’s brain was preternatural! |
Jack Woods — The Equinox…A Journey Into the Supernatural, 1967, by Kamil Antosiewicz Monika Powalisz is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr. — Flying demon? Sounds pretty supernatural to me! |
| Part of Grammar: | ||
| Adjective; Noun
Plural for the noun: the paranormals |
Adjective
Alternative spelling: praeternatural |
Adjective; Noun
Plural for the noun: the supernaturals |
| Adjective: Denoting events or phenomena such as telekinesis, psychokinesis, extrasensory perception, or clairvoyance that are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding Noun: |
Adjective: Beyond what is normal, expected, or natural
|
Adjective: [Of a manifestation or event] Attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature
Of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or attributed to God or a deity Of a superlative degree
Of, relating to, or attributed to ghosts, goblins, or other unearthly beings
Noun: Behavior supposedly caused by the intervention of supernatural beings Direct influence or action of a deity on earthly affairs |
| Examples: | ||
| Adjective: Is there a mystic who can prove he has paranormal powers? He considered such paranormal phenomena as telepathy, telekinesis, telekinesis, or psychometry as bunk. She is said to have a medium’s paranormal powers. They were doing experiments in paranormal cognition of drawings. Noun: I told him to wake up and write this information down as scientific proof of the paranormal. Our organization is dedicated to the search for the truth about the paranormal. Whether or not the paranormal exists, it’s certain that hoaxers like Uri Geller flourish. |
Adjective: Autumn had arrived with preternatural speed. The composer Mozart was a preternatural child prodigy gifted with a musical genius. “There is an automatism to him, a preternatural talent for responding exactly, and briskly, with what is expected” (Silverman). “Schwarzenegger is adept at disguising his true feelings beneath a mask of preternatural calm, but he was suddenly doubly alert” (Leamer). |
Adjective: He was revealed as a supernatural being. She was a woman of supernatural beauty. The house is haunted by supernatural forces. Stephen King’s first novel is about a girl named Carrie dealing with supernatural powers. Noun: In Roman Catholic theology, sanctifying grace is considered to be a supernatural addition to human nature. Wow, that was a missile of supernatural speed! Rodney had a deep fear of the supernatural. |
| Derivatives: | ||
| Adverb: paranormally Noun: paranormalism, paranormality |
Adjective: unpreternatural Adverb: praeternaturally, preternaturally, unpreternaturally Noun: praeternaturalism, preternaturalism, preternaturality, preternaturalness |
Adverb: supernaturally Noun: supernaturalism, supernaturalist, supernaturalness Verb: supernaturalise, supernaturalize [British] |
| History of the Word: | ||
| First recorded in 1915–20 as para- + normal. | 1580, derived from the Latin phrase praeter naturam, which means beyond nature. | 1520–30, from the Medieval Latin supernātūrālis. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Paranormal vs Preternatural vs Supernatural
Apple Dictionary.com
AskDifference: “Paranormal vs Supernatural“
Dictionary.com: paranormal, preternatural, supernatural
Leamer, Laurence. “Arnold Schwarzenegger Comes Clean.” The Daily Beast. 30 Sept 2012. Web. 17 Aug 2020. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/arnold-schwarzenegger-comes-clean?source=dictionary>.
Silverman, Jacob. “Oren Makes Friends, Not News.” Daily Beast. 16 Oct 2012. Web. 17 Aug 2020. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/oren-makes-friends-not-news?source=dictionary>
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Witches, October 1508, is a woodcut by Hans Baldung and is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Revised as of 17 Apr 2024
By: Kathy Davie