superman

[soo-per-man]

noun

plural

supermen 

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.

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

It’s in service of crank conspiracy theories, quack wellness influencers and weird dystopian visions of supermen doing pull-ups to demonstrate their patriotism.

From Salon

But it has come at a cost, raising the question of how much is too much, even for a superman like Stokes.

From BBC

I cannot entirely fault those who are still looking for a hero or a superman who cuts through the noise and nonsense.

From Salon

Maybe he can and thus satisfy his fans that he is “superman.”

From Los Angeles Times

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