sublimate

sublimate

English

WOTD – 3 September 2006

Etymology

From Middle English sublymate, from Latin sublīmātus, past participle of sublīmāre (“to raise, elevate”).

Pronunciation

• (verb) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌblɪmeɪt/
• (noun) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌblɪmeɪt/, /ˈsʌblɪmət/

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Verb

sublimate (third-person singular simple present sublimates, present participle sublimating, simple past and past participle sublimated)

1. (transitive, intransitive, physics) To change state from a solid to a gas without passing through the liquid state. [from 16th c.]

   Synonym: sublime

2. (transitive, archaic) To purify or refine a substance through such a change of state.
3. (transitive, psychoanalysis) 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.
   • 1969, Susan Sontag, “What’s Happening in America”, in Styles of Radical Will, Kindle edition, Penguin Modern Classics, published 2009, →ISBN, page 194:

     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.

4. (archaic) To raise to a place of honor; to refine and exalt.

   Synonyms: heighten, elevate

   • 1667, attributed to Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety. […], London: […] R. Norton for T. Garthwait, […], OCLC 1114833197:

     The precepts of Christianity are […] so apt […] to cleanse and sublimate the more gross and corrupt.

Related terms

• corrosive sublimate
• sublimation
• sublime

 

Translations

to change from solid to gas

Bulgarian: сублимирам (bg) (sublimiram) Catalan: sublimar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 升華／升华 (zh) (shēnghuá) Czech: sublimovat Finnish: sublimoitua (intr.), sublimoida (tr.) French: sublimer (fr) German: sublimieren (de) Japanese: 昇華させる (ja) (shōka saseru) Korean: 승화하다 (ko) (seunghwahada) Maori: whakahaurehu, whāhaurehu Portuguese: sublimar (pt) Russian: сублими́ровать (ru) impf or pf (sublimírovatʹ), возгоня́ть (ru) impf (vozgonjátʹ), возгна́ть (ru) pf (vozgnátʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: сублимирати Roman: sublimirati Spanish: sublimar (es) Swedish: sublimera Tagalog: lakdasingawin Thai: ระเหิด (th) (rá-hə̀ət)

to purify or refine by sublimation

Bulgarian: пречиствам (bg) (prečistvam) Finnish: sublimoida, haihduttaa French: sublimer (fr) Portuguese: sublimar (pt) Russian: очища́ть (ru) impf (očiščátʹ), очи́стить (ru) pf (očístitʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: сублимирати Roman: sublimirati Spanish: sublimar (es)

psychoanalysis

Czech: sublimovat Finnish: sublimoida, ylevöittää French: sublimer (fr) German: sublimieren (de) Japanese: 昇華させる (ja) (shōka saseru) Portuguese: sublimar (pt) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: сублимирати Roman: sublimirati Spanish: sublimar (es) Swedish: sublimera

to raise to a place of honor

Catalan: sublimar (ca) Finnish: ylevöittää French: honorer (fr) Portuguese: sublimar (pt) Russian: возвыша́ть (ru) (vozvyšátʹ), возвы́сить (ru) pf (vozvýsitʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: сублимирати Roman: sublimirati Spanish: sublimar (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Interlingua: (please verify) sublimar

Noun

sublimate (plural sublimates)

1. (chemistry) A product obtained by sublimation.

See also

• freeze-dry

Anagrams

• multibase, umbalites

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Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /subliˈmate/

Verb

sublimate

1. adverbial present passive participle of sublimar

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Italian

Verb

sublimate

1. inflection of sublimare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Participle

sublimate f pl

1. feminine plural of sublimato

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /sub.liːˈmaː.te/, [s̠ʊblʲiːˈmäːt̪ɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /sub.liˈma.te/, [subliˈmäːt̪e]

Verb

sublīmāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of sublīmō