different between supernatural vs uncanny

English

Etymology

From Middle English supernatural, supernatural, from Middle French supernaturel, from Latin supern?t?r?lis, from super (“above”) + n?t?ra (“nature; that which we are born with”), from n?tus (“born”), perfect passive participle of n?sc? (“to be born”) + adjective suffix -?lis.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?s(j)u?p??nat?(?)??l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s(j)u?p??næt???l/, /?s(j)u?p??næt???l/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?s(j)??p??n?t???(l)/

Adjective

supernatural (comparative more supernatural, superlative most supernatural)

1. Above nature; 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.

   Stephen King's first novel is about a girl named Carrie dealing with supernatural powers.

   • March 14, 2018, Roger Penrose writing in The Guardian, 'Mind over matter': Stephen Hawking – obituary

     As with the Delphic oracle of ancient Greece, physical impairment seemed compensated by almost supernatural gifts, which allowed his mind to roam the universe freely, upon occasion enigmatically revealing some of its secrets hidden from ordinary mortal view.

2. Not of the usual; not natural; altered by forces that are not understood fully if at all.

Synonyms

• extraordinary, paranormal, preternatural, supranatural, unnatural

Antonyms

• ordinary
• natural

Translations

Noun

supernatural (plural supernaturals)

1. (countable) A supernatural being
2. (uncountable) Supernatural beings and events collectively (when used with definite article: "the supernatural")
   • 2012, Blake Morrison, The Guardian, [1]:

     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."

Translations

Middle English

Alternative forms

• supernaturel

Etymology

From Middle French supernaturel, from Latin supern?t?r?lis; equivalent to super- +? natural.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?siu?p?rna??tiu?ral/, /?siu?p?rna??tiu?r?l/, /?siu?p?rna?tiu?ral/, /?siu?p?rna?tiu?r?l/

Adjective

supernatural

1. (Late Middle English, religion) Deity-related; from God.

Descendants

• English: supernatural
• Scots: supernatural

References

• “supern??t?r?l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-14.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin supern?t?r?lis.

Adjective

supernatural (plural supernaturales)

1. supernatural

   Synonym: sobrenatural

English

Etymology

From un- +? canny; thus “beyond one's ken,” or outside one's familiar knowledge or perceptions. Compare Middle English unkanne (“unknown”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?n?kæni/
• Rhymes: -æni

Adjective

uncanny (comparative uncannier, superlative uncanniest)

1. Strange, and mysteriously unsettling (as if supernatural); weird.
2. (Britain dialectal) Careless.

Translations

Noun

uncanny

1. (psychology, psychoanalysis, Freud) Something that is simultaneously familiar and strange, typically leading to feelings of discomfort; translation of Freud's usage of the German "unheimlich" (literally "unsecret").
   • 2011, Espen Dahl, Hans-Gunter Heimbrock, In Between: The Holy Beyond Modern Dichotomies, page 99:

     [The uncanny is] something that was long familiar to the psyche and was estranged from it only through being repressed. The link with repression now illuminates Schelling?s definition of the uncanny as ‘something that should have remained hidden and has come into the open.’ (Freud: 2003, 147 f)

   • 2003, Nicholas Royle, The Uncanny, page 1 [1]:

     The uncanny involves feelings of uncertainty, in particular regarding the reality of who one is and what is being experienced.

   • 2011, Anneleen Masschelein, The Unconcept: The Freudian Uncanny in Late-Twentieth-Century Theory, page 2 [2]:

     Because the uncanny affects and haunts everything, it is in constant transformation and cannot be pinned down.

   • 2001, Diane Jonte-Pace, Speaking the Unspeakable, page 81 [3]:

     In the preceding chapter, we saw that Freud linked the maternal body, death, and the afterlife with the uncanny in his famous essay "The Uncanny" ("Das Unheimliche").

   • 1982, Samuel Weber, The Legend of Freud, page 20 [4]:

     This uncontrollable possibility—the possibility of a certain loss of control—can, perhaps, explain why the uncanny remains a marginal notion even within psychoanalysis itself.

   • 2005, Barbara Creed, Phallic Panic, page vii [5]:

     Freud argued that the uncanny was particularly associated with feelings of horror aroused by the figure of the paternal castrator, neglecting the tropes of woman and animal as a source of the uncanny.

   • 1994, Sonu Shamdasani and Michael Münchow, Speculations after Freud, page 186 [6]:

     As is well known, Freud introduced the concept of the uncanny into psychoanalysis in 1919 and used The Sandman as a prime illustration for his definition.

Usage notes

In common modern usage, "canny" and "uncanny" are no longer antonyms, although they are not synonyms.

Derived terms

• uncanny valley
• uncannily

Related terms

Translations

References