superman
nouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈs(j)uːpəmæn//
- United States//ˈsupɚmæn//
An imagined superior type of human being representing a new stage of human development; an übermensch; (loosely), a man of extraordinary powers.
noun
- 1
An imagined superior type of human being representing a new stage of human development; an übermensch; (loosely), a man of extraordinary powers.
Nietzsche wrote of the coming of the superman.
Man does desire an ideal Superman with such energy as he can spare from his nutrition, and has in every age magnified the best living substitute for it he can find.
What is the ape to man? A laughing-stock, a thing of shame. And just the same shall man be to the Superman: a laughing-stock, a thing of shame.
"Well, what is it that he does that I don't do? Just say the word, - teetotal, vegetarian, aeronaut, theosophist, superman."
- 2
Someone likened to the comics character Superman; a man of seemingly superhuman powers.
By the latter part of 1848, the throne of Hudson the Railway King who had been called in in 1845 as a superman to save the Eastern Counties Railway, was tottering to its fall, [...].
I wanted someone whose income combined with mine could afford us a family, an apartment, a car, and all the travel, luxury, and fun we could possibly tolerate. I wanted a Superman.
What type of human weakness might a being of unfathomable power—a superman—inadvertently expose to the keen analytic mind of an avenging dark knight?
Didn’t they tell us we needed illegals to help build more houses to counter the housing shortage in the US? Why don’t they put all these returning construction supermen to work in Mexico?.
Etymology
A calque of German Übermensch; super- + man. The German word was introduced by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) in his work Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1883), and rendered in English as superman by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) in the play Man and Superman (1903) and by Thomas Common (1850–1919) in his 1909 translation of Nietzsche’s work. The “person of extraordinary powers” sense was reinforced by the DC Comics’ character Superman, who first appeared in Action Comics #1 dated June 1938.
Forms
- plural
- supermen
superman · An imagined superior type of human being representing a new stage of human development; an übermensch; (loosely), a man of extraordinary powers.
Superman · A fictional comic-book superhero with superhuman strength and…supermarket · A large self-service store that sells groceries and, usually,…supernatural · Above nature; beyond or added to nature, often so considered…