transcendental

American  

[tran-sen-den-tl, -suhn-] / ˌtræn sɛnˈdɛn tl, -sən- /

adjective

1. transcendent, surpassing, or superior.

2. being beyond ordinary or common experience, thought, or belief; supernatural.

3. abstract or metaphysical.

4. idealistic, lofty, or extravagant.

5. Philosophy.

   1. beyond the contingent and accidental in human experience, but not beyond all human knowledge.

   2. pertaining to certain theories, etc., explaining what is objective as the contribution of the mind.

   3. Kantianism. of, pertaining to, based upon, or concerned with a priori elements in experience, which condition human knowledge.

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noun

1. Mathematics. transcendental number.

2. Scholasticism. transcendentals, categories that have universal application, as being, one, true, good.

transcendental British  

/ ˌtrænsɛnˈdɛntəl /

adjective

1. transcendent, superior, or surpassing

2. 1. (of a judgment or logical deduction) being both synthetic and a priori

   2. of or relating to knowledge of the presuppositions of thought

3. philosophy beyond our experience of phenomena, although not beyond potential knowledge

4. theol surpassing the natural plane of reality or knowledge; supernatural or mystical

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Other Word Forms

• transcendentality
  noun
• transcendentally
  adverb
• untranscendental
  adjective
• untranscendentally
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of transcendental

From the Medieval Latin word trānscendentālis, dating back to 1615–25. See transcendent, -al ¹

Explanation

Transcendental describes anything that has to do with the spiritual, non-physical world. You could describe the time you spend in the woods hiking as a physical and a transcendental experience. When something is transcendental, it's beyond ordinary, everyday experience. It might be religious, spiritual, or otherworldly, but if it's transcendental, it transcends — or goes beyond — the regular physical realm. The adjective transcendental is used to describe a particular kind of meditation, a specific school of philosophy, and even a type of number in mathematics. Transcendental and transcend come from the Latin word transcendere, or climb over or beyond.

Example Sentences

Then after my morning shower, I meditate — I do Transcendental Meditation for 20 minutes twice a day every day.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 29, 2024

The second disc opens with the Wagner transcription and includes Ronald Stevenson’s arrangement of the adagio from Mahler’s 10th Symphony and Liszt’s “Harmonies du Soir,” his Transcendental Étude No. 11.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 17, 2022

An early practitioner of Transcendental Meditation, learned alongside Deepak Chopra, Dr. Perrinjaquet begins every morning with 20 minutes of meditation and does another 20 in the evening.

From New York Times • Dec. 29, 2021

Transcendental meditation and Lexapro help, he said, and this year, he found a kindred, anxious spirit in Jesse Eisenberg, who directed him in the upcoming dramedy “When You Finish Saving the World.”

From Washington Post • Nov. 16, 2021

I can hardly remember now what it was all about, but I was a total mess then, having just split up with Salim’s dad and not yet having discovered Transcendental Meditation.

From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd