Wiktionary

sublimate

English

edit
WOTD – 3 September 2006, 3 September 2007

Etymology

edit

From Middle English sublymate, from Latin sublīmātus, past participle of sublīmāre (“to raise, elevate”).

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): (verb) /ˈsʌblɪmeɪt/
  • (noun) IPA(key): /ˈsʌblɪmeɪt/, /ˈsʌblɪmət/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (Australia):(file)

Verb

edit

sublimate (third-person singular simple present sublimates, present participle sublimating, simple past and past participle sublimated)

  1. (transitive)
    1. (chemistry) To heat (a substance) in a container so as to convert it into a gas which then condenses in solid form on cooler parts of the container.
      Synonym: sublime
      1. (generally) To change (a solid substance) into a gas without breaking down or passing through the liquid state by heating it gently. [from 16th c.]
        Synonym: sublime
      2. (chiefly passive voice) To change (a substance) from a gas into a solid through sublimation.
    2. (by extension)
      1. (figurative) To refine (something) until it disappears or loses all meaning.
      2. (figurative, psychoanalysis) To modify (the natural expression of a sexual or primitive instinct) in a socially acceptable manner; to divert the energy of (such an instinct) into some acceptable activity.
        • 1969, Susan Sontag, “What’s Happening in America”, in Styles of Radical Will, Kindle edition, Penguin Modern Classics, published 2009, →ISBN, page 194:
          Foreigners extol the American "energy" […] Basically it is the energy of violence, of free-floating resentment and anxiety unleashed by chronic cultural dislocations which must be, for the most part, ferociously sublimated. This energy has mainly been sublimated into crude materialism and acquisitiveness.
        • 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 7:
          When he got home from the parade, however, Professor Solanka was seized by melancholy, his usual secret sadness, which he sublimated into the public sphere. Something was amiss with the world. The optimistic peace-and-love philosophy of his youth having given him up, he no longer knew how to reconcile himself to an increasingly phoney […] reality.
      3. (chiefly figurative, archaic) To obtain (something) through, or as if through, sublimation.
      4. (chiefly figurative, archaic) To purify or refine (a substance).
        • 1667, attributed to Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety. […], London: […] R. Norton for T. Garthwait, […], →OCLC:
          The precepts of Christianity are […] so apt […] to cleanse and sublimate the more gross and corrupt.
    3. (by extension) Synonym of sublime.
      1. (also figurative) To raise (someone) to a high office or status; to dignify, to elevate, to exalt.
      2. (figurative) To raise something to a state of excellence; to improve.
  2. (intransitive)
    1. (chemistry) Of a substance: to change from a solid into a gas without passing through the liquid state, with or without being heated.
      Synonym: sublime
      Coordinate term: evaporate
    2. (chemistry) Of a substance: to change from a gas into a solid without passing through the liquid state.
      Synonym: sublime
      Coordinate term: condense
    3. (figurative, psychoanalysis) To modify the natural expression of a sexual or primitive instinct in a socially acceptable manner; to divert the energy of such an instinct into some acceptable activity.
    4. (figurative) Synonym of sublime (“to become higher in quality or status; to improve”).

Antonyms

edit

Hypernyms

edit

Coordinate terms

edit

Derived terms

edit
edit

Translations

edit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun

edit

sublimate (plural sublimates)

  1. (chemistry) A product obtained by sublimation.

Antonyms

edit

See also

edit

Anagrams

edit

Ido

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

sublimate

  1. adverbial present passive participle of sublimar

Italian

edit

Etymology 1

edit

Verb

edit

sublimate

  1. inflection of sublimare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative
    2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

edit

Participle

edit

sublimate f pl

  1. feminine plural of sublimato

Latin

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

sublīmāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of sublīmō

Spanish

edit

Verb

edit

sublimate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of sublimar combined with te
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=sublimate&oldid=90402956"