sublimate

English

WOTD – 3 September 2006

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʌblɪmeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Verb

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,” attributing to it both our unparalleled economic prosperity and the splendid vivacity of our arts and entertainments. […] 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

   • Dr. H. More

     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

• Catalan: sublimar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 升華 (zh) (shēnghuá), 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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

to purify or refine by sublimation

• Finnish: sublimoida, haihduttaa
• French: sublimer (fr)
• Portuguese: sublimar (pt)
• Russian: очища́ть (ru) impf (očiščátʹ), очи́стить (ru) pf (očístitʹ)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Noun

sublimate (plural sublimates)

1. (chemistry) A product obtained by sublimation.

See also

• freeze-dry

Anagrams

• umbalites

---

Italian

Verb

sublimate

1. second-person plural present indicative of sublimare
2. second-person plural imperative of sublimare
3. feminine plural of sublimato

---

Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) sublīmāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of sublīmō