sublime

English Online Dictionary. What means sublime‎? What does sublime mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /səˈblaɪm/
• Rhymes: -aɪm
• Hyphenation: sub‧lime

Etymology 1

Partly from the following:

• From Middle English sublimen, sublime, sublyme (“to exalt, extol, glorify, honour; (alchemy) to refine (a substance) by vaporizing in a closed container; to obtain (a substance) by cooling vapour obtained through sublimation; to extract (a pure substance) from a mixture by sublimation; to sublimate (a substance)”), from Middle French sublimer, Old French sublimer (“to exalt, glorify, honour; to refine (a substance) by vaporizing in a closed container; of a substance: to undergo sublimation”) (modern French sublimer), and from its etymon Latin sublīmāre, the present active infinitive of sublimō (“to elevate, raise; to soar”) (compare Late Latin sublimō (“to elevate, raise; to exalt, glorify, honour; to sublimate, vaporize”)), from sublīmis (“elevated, raised; exalted, uplifted, sublime; elevated in style”) (from sub- (prefix meaning ‘under; up to’) + possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃l- (“to bend”) (whence Latin līmen (“threshold”) and līmus (“askew; sideways”))) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).
• From sublime (adjective).

Verb

sublime (third-person singular simple present sublimes, present participle subliming, simple past and past participle sublimed)

1. (transitive)
   1. (chemistry) Synonym of sublimate
      1. 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; (generally) to change (a solid substance) into a gas without breaking down or passing through the liquid state by heating it gently.
      2. (archaic) To obtain or purify (a substance) in this manner.
   2. (by extension, figurative) To raise (someone or an intangible thing) to a state of (especially moral or spiritual) excellence; to exalt.

      Synonym: (archaic) sublimate
   3. (obsolete)
      1. To cause (someone or something) to ascend; to raise (someone or something) to a high position.
      2. To cause (juice or sap) to rise in a plant.
      3. Especially of the sun: to heat (something) and cause vapours, etc., to rise from it.
      4. To purify (someone) from a bad influence or from sin.
      5. To raise (someone) to a high office or status; to dignify, to exalt.

         Synonym: sublimate
      6. To raise (a physical thing) to a state of excellence; to improve.

         Synonym: sublimate
2. (intransitive)
   1. (chemistry) Synonym of sublimate
      1. Of a substance: to change from a solid into a gas without passing through the liquid state, with or without being heated.
      2. Of a substance: to change from a gas into a solid without passing through the liquid state.
   2. (by extension, figurative) To become higher in quality or status; to improve.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• resublime
• sublimed (adjective)
• sublimer
• subliming (adjective, noun)

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

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.

Adjective

sublime (comparative sublimer, superlative sublimest)

1. (chiefly poetic, archaic or obsolete) High, tall, towering; also, positioned in a high place; high-up, lofty.
2. (figurative)
   1. Of an aspect of art or nature: causing awe or deep respect due to its beauty or magnificence; awe-inspiring, impressive.
   2. Of flight: ascending, soaring.
   3. Of an idea or other thing: requiring great intellectual effort to appreciate or understand; very elevated, refined, or subtle.
   4. Of language, style, or writing: expressing opinions in a grand way.
   5. Of a person or their actions or qualities: intellectually, morally, or spiritually superior.
   6. 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.

   7. Of a thing: consummate, perfect; (informal, loosely) excellent, marvellous, wonderful.
   8. (chiefly poetic, archaic) Of a person: dignified, majestic, noble.
   9. (chiefly poetic, archaic) Of a person: haughty, proud.
   10. (informal) Complete, downright, utter.

       Synonyms: absolute, out-and-out

3. (obsolete)
   1. (figurative)
      1. Elevated by joy; elated.
      2. Of a substance: purified, refined; hence, of the highest quality.
   2. (poetic, postpositive) Of arms: lifted up, raised.
   3. (anatomy) 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.

      Antonym: profound

   4. (pathology) Of breathing: very laboured.

Derived terms

Related terms

• subliminal
• sublimity
• sublimityship (obsolete, rare)

Translations

Noun

sublime (countable and uncountable, plural sublimes)

1. (countable, archaic)
   1. Something which is sublime; a sublimity.
   2. In the form the sublime of: the highest degree; the acme, the height.
2. (uncountable) Chiefly preceded by the.
   1. An aspect of art or nature which causes awe or deep respect due to its beauty or magnificence; hence, the great beauty or magnificence of a place, a thing, etc.
   2. A style of language or writing which expresses opinions in a grand way.
   3. That which is intellectually, morally, or spiritually superior in human life or human nature.
3. (uncountable, archaic) The quality or state of being sublime; sublimeness, sublimity.

Translations

References

Further reading

• sublime (literary) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• sublime (philosophy) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• sublim (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• blueism

Danish

Adjective

sublime

1. definite of sublim
2. plural of sublim

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French sublime, borrowed from Latin sublimis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sy.blim/
• Rhymes: -im

Adjective

sublime (plural sublimes)

1. sublime, extraordinary

Derived terms

• Sublime Porte

Verb

sublime

1. inflection of sublimer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “sublime”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

sublime

1. inflection of sublim:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sublimis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /suˈbli.me/
• Rhymes: -ime
• Hyphenation: su‧blì‧me

Adjective

sublime (plural sublimi)

1. sublime

Derived terms

• sublimemente

Related terms

• sublimità

Latin

Adjective

sublīme

1. vocative masculine singular of sublīmus

References

• “sublime”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sublime”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• sublime in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sublīmus.

Adjective

sublime m or f (plural sublimes)

1. sublime (noble, majestic, magnificent, etc.)

Descendants

• French: sublime

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: su‧bli‧me

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin sublīmis.

Adjective

sublime m or f (plural sublimes)

1. sublime

Noun

sublime m or f by sense (plural sublimes)

1. sublime

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

sublime

1. inflection of sublimar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Related terms

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /suˈblime/ [suˈβ̞li.me]
• Rhymes: -ime
• Syllabification: su‧bli‧me

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin sublimis.

Adjective

sublime m or f (masculine and feminine plural sublimes)

1. sublime

Derived terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

sublime

1. inflection of sublimar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “sublime”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28