sublimate
IPA: sʌbɫˈaɪmʌt
noun
- (chemistry) A product obtained by sublimation.
verb
- (transitive)
- (chemistry) 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.
- (generally) To change (a solid substance) into a gas without breaking down or passing through the liquid state by heating it gently.
- (chiefly passive voice) To change (a substance) from a gas into a solid through sublimation.
- (by extension)
- (figurative) To refine (something) until it disappears or loses all meaning.
- (figurative, 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.
- (chiefly figurative, archaic) To obtain (something) through, or as if through, sublimation.
- (chiefly figurative, archaic) To purify or refine (a substance).
- (by extension) Synonym of sublime
- (also figurative) To raise (someone) to a high office or status; to dignify, to elevate, to exalt.
- (figurative) To raise (a physical thing) to a state of excellence; to improve.
- (intransitive)
- (chemistry) Of a substance: to change from a solid into a gas without passing through the liquid state, with or without being heated.
- (chemistry) Of a substance: to change from a gas into a solid without passing through the liquid state.
- (figurative, 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.
- (figurative) Synonym of sublime (“to become higher in quality or status; to improve”)
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Examples of "sublimate" in Sentences
- The leader sublimated the troupe.
- It consisted of gold and corrosive sublimate.
- "sublimate" into a rap, and that's an achievement in and of itself.
- There is a more mundane derivative noted by Merriam-Webster: sublimate, which is the transition directly from solid to gas.
- Calomel is often given as a medicine, but not so with corrosive sublimate, which is usually employed in the arts as a poison.
- And I believe that when corrosive sublimate is slow in taking hold, alternate dressings of peroxide of hydrogen are just the thing.
- By Joerg Colberg on January 28, 2004 5: 36 PM sublimate is one of those weblogs that I should have linked to a long time ago. coincidences
- Take the rug back to the protected area outside and let it 'sublimate', letting the solid snow turn to vapor (ice) without it turning into a liquid (melting).
- 'sublimate' our emotions, when life denies them an outlet on the level of our desire, by raising them to a higher and more rarified range of feeling and action.
- Of course, life will be so purposeless that people will have to be biologically or psychologically engineered either to remove their need for the power process or make them "sublimate" their drive for power into some harmless hobby.
- a varied class of thoughts, active, although repressed as out of harmony with the selected life of consciousness; layer after layer, new sets of motives underlying motives were laid bare, and each patient's interest was strongly enlisted in the task of learning to know himself in order more truly and wisely to "sublimate" himself.