Sublimate

/ˈsʌblɪmeɪt/ · verb

Meaning

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..

Definitions by Sense

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.
2. To refine (something) until it disappears or loses all meaning.
3. 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.
4. To obtain (something) through, or as if through, sublimation.
5. To purify or refine (a substance).
6. Synonym of sublime.
7. Of a substance: to change from a solid into a gas without passing through the liquid state, with or without being heated.
8. Of a substance: to change from a gas into a solid without passing through the liquid state.

Example Sentences

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.

When he got home from the parade, however, Professor Solanka was seized by melancholy, his usual secret sadness, which he sublimated into the public sphere. Something was amiss with the world. The optimistic peace-and-love philosophy of his youth having given him up, he no longer knew how to reconcile himself to an increasingly phoney […] reality.

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

Synonyms for sublimate

Antonyms for sublimate

Related Words

Word Forms

• sublimates
• sublimating
• sublimated

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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