superman

[ soo-per-man ]

noun

, plural su·per·men.

1. a person of extraordinary or superhuman powers.
2. an ideal superior being conceived by Nietzsche who attains happiness, dominance, and creativity.
3. a superior being conceived as the product of human evolution.
4. one who prevails by virtue of being a ruthless egoist of superior strength, cunning, and force of will.

superman

/ ˈsuːpəˌmæn /

noun

1. (in the philosophy of Nietzsche) an ideal man who through integrity and creativity would rise above good and evil and who represents the goal of human evolution
2. any man of apparently superhuman powers

Superman

¹

1. A seemingly immortal, superhuman comic-strip character created in the late 1930s, who hides his powers beneath the persona of Clark Kent, a mild-mannered newspaper reporter. Only when there is a threat of danger — often to his fellow reporter and secret love, Lois Lane — does Clark transform himself into the caped hero with x-ray vision.

Superman

²

1. An ideal of humanity found in Thus Spake Zarathustra, by Friedrich Nietzsche . The Superman, or Overman (the German is Übermensch ), is the single goal of all human striving, for which people must be willing to sacrifice all. It is doubtful that Nietzsche thought of the Overman as an individual person.

Gender Note

See -man.

Notes

Superman has been adapted for various radio and television series and a number of highly successful films.

Word History and Origins

Origin of superman¹

1900–05; super- + man, translation of German Übermensch

Example Sentences

I anticipate that the most heroic seeming of these photos will be on the jumbo screens at the convention so the mythology of Trump the superman will again be on national TV.

From Salon

They’re telling us that this political superman has successfully “weaponized” the justice system.

From Los Angeles Times

He's 77 years old and doesn't take care of his health, probably because thinks doing that would be doing an admission that he's not the genetic superman he so often claims to be.

From Salon

Pep Guardiola praised his Manchester City players as "supermen" as they kept up their chase for a fourth straight league title by beating Bournemouth.

From BBC

At the center of this universe sits Papageno, a colorful, intractably disorderly oddball in muddied outdoor gear, an everyman turned unlikely superman who, in spurning the cultural mores that would shackle him, rises above them.

From New York Times