transcend

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French transcender, from Latin transcendere (“to climb over, step over, surpass, transcend”), from trans (“over”) + scandere (“to climb”); see scan; compare ascend, descend.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɹæn(t)ˈsɛnd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

transcend (third-person singular simple present transcends, present participle transcending, simple past and past participle transcended)

1. (transitive) to pass beyond the limits of something.
   • Francis Bacon

     such popes as shall transcend their limits

2. (transitive) to surpass, as in intensity or power; to excel.
   • Dryden

     How much her worth transcended all her kind.

3. (obsolete) To climb; to mount.

   lights in the heavens transcending the region of the clouds

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Howell to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (to pass beyond the limits of something): exceed, overgo, surpass; see also Thesaurus:transcend
• (to surpass something): better, dwarf, eclipse; see also Thesaurus:exceed
• (to climb): ascend

Derived terms

Derived terms

• transcendence
• transcendency
• transcendent
• transcendental
• transcendentalism

• transcendentalist
• transcendentally
• transcending
• transcension

Translations

to pass beyond the limits of something

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 超越 (zh) (chāoyuè)

• Czech: překonat
• Dutch: overstijgen (nl)
• Finnish: ylittää (fi)
• French: transcender (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: ubersteigen
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 越える。超越する
• Latin: supero
• Portuguese: transcender (pt)
• Russian: переступа́ть преде́лы impf (perestupátʹ predély)
• Serbo-Croatian: transcendirati
• Spanish: trascender (es)

to surpass something in intensity or power; to excel

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 超越 (zh) (chāoyuè)

• Finnish: ylittää (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} まさる、より優れている
• Russian: превосходи́ть (ru) impf (prevosxodítʹ), превыша́ть (ru) impf (prevyšátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: prevazići (sh), nadići (sh)
• Swahili: shinda

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

• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} trascendir
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Further reading

• “transcend”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “transcend”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.