subternatural

/ ˌsʌbtəˈnætʃərəl; -ˈnætʃrəl /

adjective

1. rare.
   falling below what is accepted as natural; less than natural

Word History and Origins

Origin of subternatural¹

C19: from Latin subter- below + natural

Example Sentences

Subternatural, sub-tėr-nat′ū-ral, adj. less than, or below, the natural.

From Project Gutenberg

When he acts from habit, impulse, passion, and not from choice, he is simply a natural being; when he acts from choice, he is not a natural being, but either a supernatural or a subternatural being, according as he chooses good or evil.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus brutes, and men like brutes, who are below the moral law, are subternatural as regards that law.

From Project Gutenberg

What is so low down that it lies below law, as chaos before creation; or nebulous matter not yet beginning to obey the law of gravitation; or intelligences, like Mephistopheles or Satan, who have sunk so low in sin as to have lost the perception of right and wrong, is subternatural, below nature.

From Project Gutenberg