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.

  1. a superior being conceived as the product of human evolution.

  2. one who prevails by virtue of being a ruthless egoist of superior strength, cunning, and force of will.

Origin of superman

1
1900–05; super- + man, translation of German Übermensch

usage note For superman

See -man.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use superman in a sentence

  • Traditionally, filmmakers use CGI to bend the laws of physics and make supermen of us all.

  • To be invited to one of them was an extraordinary honor, something like being a member of an academy of supermen.

    The Enemies of Women | Vicente Blasco Ibez
  • By his ruling it is only supermen that are privileged to carry their will through.

    Prophets of Dissent | Otto Heller
  • Compared to the descent of such supermen into mundane spheres a mere physical death is a trifling sacrifice indeed.

    Elementary Theosophy | L. W. Rogers
  • The relationship of the supermen, or great spiritual hierarchy, to the human race is that of teachers, guardians and directors.

    Elementary Theosophy | L. W. Rogers
  • All men, except those very big ones who are supermen, have something astonishingly despicable in them.

    Day and Night Stories | Algernon Blackwood

British Dictionary definitions for superman

superman

/ (ˈsuːpəˌmæn) /


nounplural -men
  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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Superman (1 of 2)

Superman

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.

Notes for Superman

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

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.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.