beyond the authority or jurisdiction of one national government
the supranational institutions of the EU
Derived forms
supranationalism (ˌsupraˈnationalism)
noun
supranationally (ˌsupraˈnationally)
adverb
supernational in American English
(ˌsuːpərˈnæʃənl)
adjective
tending to involve, or extending authority over, more than one nation; international; supranational
Derived forms
supernationally
adverb
Word origin
[1910–15; super- + national]This word is first recorded in the period 1910–15. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: homeroom, insulin, payoff, spotlight, zingsuper- is a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, with the basic meaning“above, beyond.” Words formed with super- have the following general senses: “to place or be placed above or over” (superimpose; supersede), “a thing placed over or added to another” (superscript; superstructure; supertax), “situated over” (superficial; superlunary) and, more figuratively, “an individual, thing, or property that exceeds customarynorms or levels” (superalloy; superconductivity; superman; superstar), “an individual or thing larger, more powerful, or with wider application than othersof its kind” (supercomputer; superhighway; superpower; supertanker), “exceeding the norms or limits of a given class” (superhuman; superplastic), “having the specified property to a great or excessive degree” (supercritical; superfine; supersensitive), “to subject to (a physical process) to an extreme degree or in an unusual way”(supercharge; supercool; supersaturate), “a category that embraces a number of lesser items of the specified kind” (superfamily; supergalaxy), “a chemical compound with a higher proportion than usual of a given constituent”(superphosphate)