Supernatural means beyond what the laws of nature allow. Supernatural powers, a supernatural explanation, the supernatural.
As a noun with the, the supernatural means the whole category of such things: a belief in the supernatural. It covers ghosts, magic and miracles, and it is a genre label in fiction and film. The word is neutral rather than sceptical: it describes a claim's category rather than judging it. Note preternatural, which means beyond the ordinary without necessarily breaking any law, and is a more careful word.
1adjectivesupernaturalBeyond what the laws of nature allow.
“There was no supernatural explanation and the noise was a badger.”
2nounwholeThe whole category of such things.
“My grandmother believed in the supernatural and swore the house was haunted.”
supernatural is a category beyond nature.
Medieval Latin supernaturalis is super, above, plus natura. Theologians coined it to distinguish God's action from nature's, so a word invented for careful theology now mostly describes horror films.
Latin
supernātūrālis
Middle French
supernaturel
Middle English
supernatural
English, today
supernatural
Built from
From Middle English supernatural, supernaturel, from Middle French supernaturel, from Latin supernātūrālis, from super (“above”) + nātūra (“nature; that which we are born with”), from nātus (“born”), perfect passive participle of nāscī (“to be born”) + adjective suffix -ālis. by surface analysis, super- + natural.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA