Word: sublime Part of Speech: noun 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 Pronunciation: /səˈblaɪm/ 1. Something which is sublime; a sublimity. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable Example: Car[los]. VVhat is your opinion of the Play? Yo[ung] Mag[got]. […] There are a great many ſublimes that are very Poetical. Example: [S]ince there are tvvo ſorts of Sublimes, the one of Nonſence, and the other of Eloquence, I vvill not take upon me to judge to vvhich of theſe this belongs. 2. In the form the sublime of: the highest degree; the acme, the height. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable Example: No solemn, antique gentleman of rhyme, Who having angled all his life for fame, And getting but a nibble at a time, Still fussily keeps fishing on, the same Small "Triton of the minnows," the sublime Of mediocrity, the furious tame, […] 3. Chiefly preceded by the. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: [T]he vvhole capacity of the eye, vibrating in all its parts muſt approach near to the nature of vvhat cauſes pain, and conſequently muſt produce an idea of the ſublime. Or if vve take it, that one point only of an object is diſtinguiſhable at oince; the matter vvill amount nearly to the ſame thing, or rather it vvill make the origin of the ſublime from greatneſs of dimenſion yet clearer. Example: [Our old meeting house's] double row of windows, of which I knew the number by heart, its doors with great wooden quirls over them, its belfry projecting out that the east end, its steeple and bell, all inspired as much sense of the sublime in me as Stratsburg Cathedral itself, and the inside was not a whit less imposing. 4. Chiefly preceded by the. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: And, after, feigning pique at what she call'd The raillery, or grotesque, or false sublime— Like one that wishes at a dance to change The music—clapt her hands and cried for war, Or some grand fight to kill and make an end: […] 5. Chiefly preceded by the. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The ſublime and the ridiculous are often ſo nearly related, that it is difficult to claſs them ſeparately. One ſtep above the ſublime, makes the ridiculous; and one ſtep above the ridiculous, makes the ſublime again. Example: There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart—an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. What was it—I paused to think—what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher? 6. The quality or state of being sublime; sublimeness, sublimity. Labels: archaic, uncountable Example: [W]hatever VVord or Sentence is Printed in a different Character, ſhall be judged to contain ſomething extraordinary either of VVit or Sublime.