sublime
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /səˈblaɪm/
rhymes: -aɪm
Forms: form: sublimer
form: sublimest
Etymology: The adjective is derived from Middle French sublime (“admirable, excellent, perfect; placed in a high position; reaching a great height; of a person: of high office or rank”) (modern French sublime), and from its etymon Latin sublīmis, sublīmus (“elevated, raised; exalted, uplifted, sublime”, adjective): see etymology 1.
The noun is derived from Middle French sublime (“elevated style in writing; quality in art or nature inspiring awe, reverence, etc.”) (modern French sublime), from the adjective: see further above.
Cognates
* Catalan sublim
* Italian sublime
* Portuguese sublime
* Spanish sublime
Senses: examples: text: The Heroe, looking on the left, eſpy'd
 A lofty Tovv'r, and ſtrong on ev'ry ſide
 […]
 Vain is the force of Man, and Heav'ns as van,
 To cruſh the Pillars vvhich the Pile ſuſtain.
 Sublime on theſe a Tovv'r of Steel is rear'd;
 And dire Tiſiphone these keeps the VVard.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 384, lines 740–741 and 747–750:
glosses: High, tall, towering; also, positioned in a high place; high-up, lofty.
examples: text: sublime scenery
text: We had entered the clouds. For half-an-hour we were muffled in a cold, damp mist, and total darkness, and had begun to think of going indoors when, all at once, the car burst into the pure and starlit region of the upper air. A cry of joyous admiration escaped from us all. The spectacle before us was indeed sublime.
ref: 1897, John Munro, chapter VI, in A Trip to Venus:
glosses: Of an aspect of art or nature: causing awe or deep respect due to its beauty or magnificence; awe-inspiring, impressive.
glosses: Of flight: ascending, soaring.
glosses: Of an idea or other thing: requiring great intellectual effort to appreciate or understand; very elevated, refined, or subtle.
glosses: Of language, style, or writing: expressing opinions in a grand way.
examples: text: a sublime deed
text: Know how sublime a thing it is,
 To suffer and be strong.
ref: 1838 October, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Light of Stars”, in Voices of the Night, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, published 1839, →OCLC, page 13:
text: Crown Him the Lord of Years!
 The Potentate of Time,—
 Creator of the rolling spheres,
 Ineffably sublime!
ref: 1851 (date written), Matthew Bridges, “Song of the Seraphs [Crown Him with Many Crowns]”, in The Passion of Jesus, a Collection of Original Pieces Corresponding with the Five Sorrowful Mysteries in the Rosary of Our Blessed Lady, London; Dublin: Richardson and Son, […], published 1852, →OCLC, stanza 5, page 64:
text: You know, when I first met you, Claire, I thought that here might finally be a chance for me to be a class-act for once. To develop something sublime about myself. Well fuck sublime, Claire. I don't want dainty little moments of insight. I want everything and I want it now.
ref: 1991, Douglas Coupland, “Adventure without Risk is Disneyland”, in Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 159:
glosses: Of a person or their actions or qualities: intellectually, morally, or spiritually superior.
examples: text: the Sublime Porte
glosses: Of an office or status: very high; exalted; also, used as an honorific (often capitalized as Sublime) to refer to someone of high office or status, especially the Ottoman sultan; or to things associated with such a person.
examples: text: Thy even Thoughts vvith ſo much Plainneſs flovv,
 Their Senſe untutor'd Infancy may knovv;
 Yet to ſuch height is all that Plainneſs vvrought,
 VVit may admire, and letter'd Pride be taught:
 Eaſie in VVords thy Style, in Senſe ſublime,
 On its bleſt Steps each Age and Sex may riſe,
 'Tis like the Ladder in the Patriarch's Dream,
 Its foot on Earth, its height beyond the Skies.
ref: 1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “To Dr. [William] Sherlock, on His Practical Discourse Concerning Death”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 37:
text: Cigarettes are poison and they taste bad; they are not exactly beautiful, they are exactly sublime. The difference, to use the terms in which [Immanuel] Kant makes the distinction, means that smoking cigarettes gives rise to forms of aesthetic pleasure painfully at odds with the affect arising from the contemplation in tranquillity, say, of a well-wrought urn.
ref: 1993, Richard Klein, “Cigarettes are Sublime”, in Cigarettes are Sublime, Durham, N.C.; London: Duke University Press, →ISBN, pages 62–63:
glosses: Of a thing: consummate, perfect; (informal, loosely) excellent, marvellous, wonderful.
examples: text: the sublime Julian leader
ref: 1842, Thomas De Quincey, “Cicero”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine:
glosses: Of a person: dignified, majestic, noble.
examples: text: countenance sublime and insolent
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30:
text: His fair large Front and Eye ſublime declar'd
 Abſolute rule;
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: Of a person: haughty, proud.
examples: text: He is behaving like a sublime idiot.
synonyms: absolute
out-and-out
glosses: Complete, downright, utter.
examples: text: While thir hearts were jocund and ſublime,
 Drunk with Idolatry, drunk with Wine,
ref: 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 96:
glosses: Elevated by joy; elated.
glosses: Of a substance: purified, refined; hence, of the highest quality.
glosses: Of arms: lifted up, raised.
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
antonyms: profound
glosses: Of a muscle (especially the flexor digitorum superficialis muscle of the forearm which lies above the flexor digitorum profundus muscle): positioned above another muscle; superficial.
topics: medicine
pathology
sciences
glosses: Of breathing: very laboured.
Derived terms: word: oversublime
word: sublimely
word: sublimeness
word: Sublime Porte
word: sublimification
word: sublimified
word: sublimise
word: sublimize
word: sublimish
Related terms: word: subliminal
word: sublimity
word: sublimityship