Meaning

Synonym of transcendent (“surpassing usual limits; excelling; extraordinary”)..

Definitions by Sense

1. Synonym of transcendent (“surpassing usual limits; excelling; extraordinary”).
2. In the philosophy of Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.): synonym of transcendent (“transcending or extending beyond a single category”); also, synonym of metaphysical (“of or relating to the basic structure of reality”).
3. In the philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) or similar philosophies: concerned with the a priori or intuitive basis of knowledge, independent of experience.
4. In the philosophy associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882): of or relating to transcendentalism (“a philosophy which stresses intuition and spirituality”).
5. Beyond one's ordinary experience; extraordinary.
6. Existing in the imagination; abstract, conceptual.
7. Mystical, superhuman, supernatural.
8. Of an element of an extension field: not algebraic, that is, not the root of any polynomial that has positive degree and rational coefficients; also, of an extension field: that contains elements which are not algebraic.

Example Sentences

[T]he Deity himſelf, tho' he perceiveth neither Pleaſure, nor Pain, nor any thing elſe, as vve do: yet muſt needs have a Perfect and Tranſcendental Perception, both of Pleaſure, and Pain, and of all other things.

All theſe conſiderations hovvever vvere belovv the tranſcendental dignity of the Revolution Society.

Thoſe Particles are here ſtiled Tranſcendental, vvhich do circumſtantiate vvords in reſpect of ſome Metaphyſical notion; either by enlarging the acception of them to ſome more general ſignification, then doth belong to the reſtrained ſenſe of their places: or denoting a relation to ſome other Predicament or Genus, under vvhich they are not originally placed.

To be impenetrable, diſcerpible, and unactive, is the nature of all Body and Matter, as ſuch: And the properties of a Spirit are the direct contrary, to be penetrable, indiſcerpible, and ſelf-motive: Yea, ſo different they are in all things, that they ſeem to have nothing but Being, and the Tranſcendental Attributes of that, in common: […]

The Divine Underſtanding cannot be the fountain of the Truth of things, &c. This ſeems at firſt ſight to be a very harſh Paradox, and againſt the current Doctrine of Metaphyſicians, vvho define Tranſcendental or Metaphyſical Truth to be nothing elſe but the relation of the Conformity of things to the Theoretical (not Practical) Intellect of God; […] And hence they make Tranſcendental Truth to depend on the Intellectual Truth of God, vvhich alone is moſt properly Truth, and indeed the fountain and origine of all Truth.

Word Forms

• more transcendental
• most transcendental
• transcendentals

Synonyms for transcendental

Antonyms for transcendental

Related Words

When Should You Use Transcendental?

Use transcendental when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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