sublimate
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsʌblɪmeɪt/
ipa: /ˈsʌblɪmeɪt/
ipa: /ˈsʌblɪmət/
Forms: form: sublimates
form: sublimating
form: sublimated
form: sublimated
Etymology: From Middle English sublymate, from Latin sublīmātus, past participle of sublīmāre (“to raise, elevate”).
Senses: topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
synonyms: sublime
sublime
glosses: 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.
To change (a solid substance) into a gas without breaking down or passing through the liquid state by heating it gently.
qualifier: generally
topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
synonyms: sublime
glosses: 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.
To change (a substance) from a gas into a solid through sublimation.
qualifier: chiefly passive voice
glosses: To refine (something) until it disappears or loses all meaning.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1969, Susan Sontag, “What’s Happening in America”, in Styles of Radical Will, Kindle edition, Penguin Modern Classics, published 2009, →ISBN, page 194:
text: 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.
ref: 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 7:
topics: human-sciences
medicine
psychoanalysis
psychology
sciences
glosses: 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.
glosses: To obtain (something) through, or as if through, sublimation.
examples: text: The precepts of Christianity are […] so apt […] to cleanse and sublimate the more gross and corrupt.
ref: 1667, attributed to Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety. […], London: […] R. Norton for T. Garthwait, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To purify or refine (a substance).
glosses: Synonym of sublime.
To raise (someone) to a high office or status; to dignify, to elevate, to exalt.
glosses: Synonym of sublime.
To raise something to a state of excellence; to improve.
topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
synonyms: sublime
coordinate_terms: evaporate
glosses: Of a substance: to change from a solid into a gas without passing through the liquid state, with or without being heated.
topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
synonyms: sublime
coordinate_terms: condense
glosses: Of a substance: to change from a gas into a solid without passing through the liquid state.
topics: human-sciences
medicine
psychoanalysis
psychology
sciences
glosses: 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.
glosses: Synonym of sublime (“to become higher in quality or status; to improve”).
synonyms: word: sublime
extra: to become higher in quality or status; to improve
Related terms: corrosive sublimate
sublimation
sublime