supermannish

comparative more supermannish · superlative most supermannish

1. Resembling or characteristic of a superman.

   The real body can only ever be an imperfect, failed imitation of the higher supermannish archetype.

   2002, Esther Leslie, Hollywood Flatlands: Animation, Critical Theory and the Avant-Garde, Verso, →ISBN, page 140

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   There were seals on the rocks, and others on the beach, though their silly faces gave no evidence of the supermannish qualities attributed to them by Mr. E. V. Lucas.

   1909, F[rederick] G[eorge] Aflalo, Sunset Playgrounds: Fishing Days and Others in California and Canada, London: Witherby & Co. […], page 126

   It is very probable that Nietzsche frequently felt himself so supermannish as to regard the clouds of earth over which he had to step in order to keep his head in the clouds.

   1910 June 9, Cally Ryland, “Every Day Trials of Life”, in The Washburn Times, volume 18, number 5, Washburn, Wis.

   Her influence has been held supermannish—daimonic or demonic—under the prevalence of ideals monastic, chivalric, or platonic; […]

   1911, Jefferson Butler Fletcher, “Preface”, in The Religion of Beauty in Women and Other Essays on Platonic Love in Poetry and Society, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, page vii

   Her second lover is as disagreeable a cad as one is likely to meet, who exhibits a supermannish selfishness in his love that makes one wonder why he should have consented to a secret marriage.

   1915 April 15, “Notes on New Novels”, in Waldo R. Browne, editor, The Dial: A Fortnightly Journal of Literary Criticism, Discussion, and Information, volume LVIII, number 692, Chicago, Ill.: The Henry O. Shepard Co., page 305, column 2

   Pulled by that “supermannish” strength the princess rises from bed and, in order to “celebrate” her husband’s death, offers herself naked at the window.

   1994, Graziella Parati, “The Transparent Woman: Reading Femininity within a Futurist Context”, in Giovanna Miceli Jeffries, editor, Feminine Feminists: Cultural Practices in Italy, Minneapolis, Minn.; London: University of Minnesota Press, →ISBN, 1 (Registers of History), page 56

comparative more Supermannish · superlative most Supermannish · alternative Superman-ish

1. Resembling or characteristic of a Superman or specifically DC Comics’ Superman.

   Search where we will, we find nothing Supermannish in such victories.

   1918, William Roscoe Thayer, The Collapse of Superman, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, page 21

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   This verdict was, in untechnical language, an effective reproof for “Supermannish” methods of financiering.

   1908 January 19, ““Superman” in Business”, in New-York Tribune, volume LXVII, number 22,344, New York, N.Y., page 8, column 2

   The only important positive ideas for which he stands are the Supermannish idea of the duty of every man to be himself to the utmost, and a generous democratic idea of freedom, in accordance with which every self-respecting man and woman should be given the opportunity to work out his or her own destiny fully, unhampered by the tyrannies of caste, prestige, sentimental traditions, false codes, and effete moral obligations.

   1913, R[olfe] A[rnold] Scott-James, Personality in Literature, London: Martin Secker […]

   The two chief characters are rather “Supermannish,” and that demands super-actors; […]

   1913 September 6, “Les Deux Forces. A Play in Four Acts by P.-J. Jouve. […]”, in The Academy and Literature, volume LXXXV, number 2157, London: Publishing Office, […], page 301, column 2

   Bugs, in Supermannish guise, goes forth to battle with a man who hates rabbits, and defeats him.

   1943 April 21, The Exhibitor, New York State edition, Philadelphia, Pa., page 1252, column 3

   Though I can see now that the hero of my first novel was too Supermannish, and just went from one success to another until I couldn’t think of any more ‘worlds for him to conquer.’

   1949, Erick Berry [pen name; Evangel Allena Champlin Best], Forty-Seven Keys, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, page 121

   Synonyms: Superman-esque