PRETERNAT'URAL, a. [L. proeter and natural.] Beyond what is natural, or different from what is natural; irregular. We call those events in the physical world preternatural, which are extraordinary, which are deemed to be beyond or without the ordinary course of things, and yet are not deemed miraculous; in distinction from events which are supernatural, which cannot be produced by physical laws or powers,and must therefore be produced by a direct exertion of omnipotence. We also apply the epithet to things uncommon or irregular; as a preternatural swelling; a preternatural pulse; a preternatural excitement or temper.
