sublime

sublime
    adj 1: inspiring awe; "well-meaning ineptitude that rises to
           empyreal absurdity"- M.S.Dworkin; "empyrean aplomb"-
           Hamilton Basso; "the sublime beauty of the night" [syn:
           {empyreal}, {empyrean}, {sublime}]
    2: worthy of adoration or reverence [syn: {reverend}, {sublime}]
    3: lifted up or set high; "their hearts were jocund and
       sublime"- Milton
    4: of high moral or intellectual value; elevated in nature or
       style; "an exalted ideal"; "argue in terms of high-flown
       ideals"- Oliver Franks; "a noble and lofty concept"; "a grand
       purpose" [syn: {exalted}, {elevated}, {sublime}, {grand},
       {high-flown}, {high-minded}, {lofty}, {rarefied}, {rarified},
       {idealistic}, {noble-minded}]
    v 1: vaporize and then condense right back again [syn:
         {sublime}, {sublimate}]
    2: change or cause to change directly from a solid into a vapor
       without first melting; "sublime iodine"; "some salts sublime
       when heated" [syn: {sublime}, {sublimate}]
    

Sublime \Sub*lime"\, a. [Compar. {Sublimer}; superl.
   {Sublimest}.] [L. sublimis; sub under + (perhaps) a word akin
   to limen lintel, sill, thus meaning, up to the lintel: cf. F.
   sublime. Cf. {Eliminate}.]
   1. Lifted up; high in place; exalted aloft; uplifted; lofty.
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            Sublime on these a tower of steel is reared.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   2. Distinguished by lofty or noble traits; eminent; -- said
      of persons. "The sublime Julian leader." --De Quincey.
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   3. Awakening or expressing the emotion of awe, adoration,
      veneration, heroic resolve, etc.; dignified; grand;
      solemn; stately; -- said of an impressive object in
      nature, of an action, of a discourse, of a work of art, of
      a spectacle, etc.; as, sublime scenery; a sublime deed.
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            Easy in words thy style, in sense sublime. --Prior.
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            Know how sublime a thing it is
            To suffer and be strong.              --Longfellow.
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   4. Elevated by joy; elate. [Poetic]
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            Their hearts were jocund and sublime,
            Drunk with idolatry, drunk with wine. --Milton.
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   5. Lofty of mien; haughty; proud. [Poetic] "Countenance
      sublime and insolent." --Spenser.
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            His fair, large front and eye sublime declared
            Absolute rule.                        --Milton.
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   Syn: Exalted; lofty; noble; majestic. See {Grand}.
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Sublime \Sub*lime"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Sublimed}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Subliming}.] [Cf. L. sublimare, F. sublimer to
   subject to sublimation. See {Sublime}, a., and cf.
   {Sublimate}, v. t.]
   1. To raise on high. [Archaic]
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            A soul sublimed by an idea above the region of
            vanity and conceit.                   --E. P.
                                                  Whipple.
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   2. (Chem.) To subject to the process of sublimation; to heat,
      volatilize, and condense in crystals or powder; to distill
      off, and condense in solid form; hence, also, to purify.
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   3. To exalt; to heighten; to improve; to purify.
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            The sun . . .
            Which not alone the southern wit sublimes,
            But ripens spirits in cold, northern climes. --Pope.
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   4. To dignify; to ennoble.
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            An ordinary gift can not sublime a person to a
            supernatural employment.              --Jer. Taylor.
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Sublime \Sub*lime"\, n.
   That which is sublime; -- with the definite article; as:
   (a) A grand or lofty style in speaking or writing; a style
       that expresses lofty conceptions.
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             The sublime rises from the nobleness of thoughts,
             the magnificence of words, or the harmonious and
             lively turn of the phrase.           --Addison.
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   (b) That which is grand in nature or art, as distinguished
       from the merely beautiful.
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Sublime \Sub*lime"\, v. i. (Chem.)
   To pass off in vapor, with immediate condensation;
   specifically, to evaporate or volatilize from the solid state
   without apparent melting; -- said of those substances, like
   arsenic, benzoic acid, etc., which do not exhibit a liquid
   form on heating, except under increased pressure.
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218 Moby Thesaurus words for "sublime":
      Elysian, Olympian, abstract, aerate, aerial, aerify, aggrandize,
      aggrandized, airy, altitudinous, apotheosized, ascending, aspiring,
      atomize, august, awe-inspiring, awesome, beaming, beatific,
      beatified, big, bighearted, blissful, blooming, bolt, bright,
      brilliant, canonized, carbonate, chivalrous, chlorinate, clarify,
      clear, colossal, dazzling, decrassify, deified, depurate,
      devastating, dignified, dignify, distill, distinguish,
      distinguished, divine, dominating, edulcorate, elevated, elute,
      eminent, emit, empyreal, empyrean, ennoble, ennobled, enshrined,
      enthroned, erect, essentialize, ethereal, etherify, etherize,
      evaporate, exalted, excellent, exhale, extract, famous, filter,
      filtrate, fluidize, fractionate, fume, fumigate, gasify, generous,
      give off, glamorous, glorified, glorify, glorious, glowing,
      godlike, good, gorgeous, grand, grave, great, great of heart,
      greathearted, handsome, haughty, heavenly, held in awe, heroic,
      high, high and mighty, high-minded, high-pitched, high-reaching,
      high-set, high-up, holy, honor, honorable, humbling, hydrogenate,
      ideal, idealistic, immortal, immortalized, inspiring, killing,
      knightly, largehearted, lauded, leach, liberal, lifted, lixiviate,
      lofty, magnanimous, magnificent, magnified, magnify, majestic,
      mighty, mind-boggling, monumental, mounting, moving, noble,
      noble-minded, on stilts, openhanded, outtopping, overlooking,
      overpowering, overtopping, overwhelming, oxygenate, paradisiac,
      paradisial, paradisian, paradisic, percolate, perfume, princely,
      prominent, proud, purify, radiant, raised, rampant, raving,
      ravishing, rectify, reek, refine, renowned, resplendent, sacred,
      sainted, saintly, sanctified, screen, send out, separate, serious,
      shining, shrined, sieve, sift, smoke, soaring, solemn, sparkling,
      spiring, spiritual, spiritualize, splendid, splendiferous,
      splendorous, splendrous, spray, stately, steam, steep, stilted,
      strain, stunning, sublimate, superb, supereminent, superlative,
      supernal, supreme, throned, topless, toplofty, topping, towering,
      towery, transcendent, transcendental, try, upcast, upflung,
      uplifted, upraised, uprear, upreared, upright, upthrown, vaporize,
      volatilize, weighty, winnow