sublime
Americanadjective
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elevated or lofty in thought, language, etc.: Paradise Lost is sublime poetry.
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impressing the mind with a sense of grandeur or power; inspiring awe, veneration, etc..
Switzerland has sublime scenery.
- Synonyms:
- majestic, imposing, resplendent, gorgeous, grand, august, superb, magnificent
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supreme or outstanding.
a sublime dinner.
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complete; absolute; utter.
sublime stupidity.
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Archaic.
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of lofty bearing.
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Archaic. raised high; high up.
noun
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sublimes
plural
verb (used with object)
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to make higher, nobler, or purer.
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Chemistry.
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to convert (a solid substance) by heat into a vapor, which on cooling condenses again to solid form, without apparent liquefaction.
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to cause to be given off by this or some analogous process.
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verb (used without object)
adjective
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of high moral, aesthetic, intellectual, or spiritual value; noble; exalted
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inspiring deep veneration, awe, or uplifting emotion because of its beauty, nobility, grandeur, or immensity
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unparalleled; supreme
a sublime compliment
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poetic of proud bearing or aspect
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archaic raised up
noun
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something that is sublime
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the ultimate degree or perfect example
the sublime of folly
verb
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(tr) to make higher or purer
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to change or cause to change directly from a solid to a vapour or gas without first melting
to sublime iodine
many mercury salts sublime when heated
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to undergo or cause to undergo this process followed by a reverse change directly from a vapour to a solid
to sublime iodine onto glass
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sublime
First recorded in 1350–1400; (for the noun and adjective) from Latin sublīmis “high,” equivalent to sub- sub- + an element of uncertain origin, variously identified with līmen “lintel, threshold” or līmus “askew, aslant”; (for the verb) ultimately derivative of sublīmis
Explanation
In common use, sublime is an adjective meaning "awe-inspiringly grand, excellent, or impressive," like the best chocolate fudge sundae you've ever had. You might describe a spine-tingling piece of music as "a work of sublime beauty." With the, the word also functions as a noun meaning "something that strikes the mind with a sense of grandeur or power": "Never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery," wrote Washington Irving. The beauty of music or nature can be awe-inspiring, but sublime is also useful for describing everything from an impressive serve in tennis to a jaw-droppingly good taste sensation.
Vocabulary lists containing sublime
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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Grade 12, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
All of which goes to underline the main takeaway - the sublime quality of Antonelli's drive.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
Douglas Keeve’s sublime 1995 documentary, “Unzipped,” follows Mizrahi in the aftermath of a train wreck, piecing his reputation back together with his next collection, attempting to make something beautiful from the rubble.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026
Leonard is a sublime basketball player when he’s healthy enough to play, but he’s not a charismatic personality or a historically in-demand spokesperson.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
In return, he left us a sublime body of work, one that languished in astonishing critical neglect until the mid-19th and early-20th centuries, the result of a dwindling taste for monastic and devotional art.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
This, you must understand, Octavian, is the true and sublime end of discipline: that you may rise into a new and glorious buoyancy.”
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
The pentachloride sublimes when warmed and forms an equilibrium with the trichloride and chlorine when heated.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019
Likewise, solid carbon dioxide does not melt at 1 atm pressure but instead sublimes to yield gaseous CO2.
From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019
Dry ice does not melt to a liquid but sublimes directly from the solid state to vapor.
From Time Magazine Archive
Sesquioxide of antimony melts easily, and sublimes as a white vapor.
Know you what it is when anguish, with apocalyptic NEVER, To a Pythian height dilates you, and despair sublimes to power?
From The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning Volume II by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
It is not for those who symbolize divine things otherwise, who typify to their fellow-men the flesh crucified, the soul sublimed.
From Dreamers of the Ghetto by Israel Zangwill
Hydrochloric acid and sulphuretted hydrogen are likewise plentiful, together with many other substances which, sublimed by the high internal temperature, take a solid form on cooling at the surface.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 6 "Geodesy" to "Geometry" by Various
They were not adapted to inspire her with cheerfulness, but they sublimed her sensations, and added an inexplicable fascination to sorrow.
From Ormond, Volume III (of 3) or, The Secret Witness by Charles Brockden Brown
It is sublimed and sacrificed on the altar of holy passion.
From The Religious Sentiment Its Source and Aim: A Contribution to the Science and Philosophy of Religion by Daniel Garrison Brinton
This important fact attests the length of time during which chemical processes continue after eruptions, and how open fissures may be filled up laterally by mineral matter, sublimed from volcanic exhalations.
From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell
I shall rise from the alembic a saint of their own subliming!
From Anna St. Ives by Thomas Holcroft
"I know what you want better than you do," he seems often to be saying to the metals he is calcining, separating, joining and subliming.
From The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry by M. M. Pattison Muir
These piñas are then carefully weighed and put into a subliming furnace, Figs.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 458, October 11, 1884 by Various
The naphtha removes mostly only the phenanthrene, but the carbazol can be removed only by pyridine, or by subliming or distilling the anthracene over caustic potash.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 5 "Clervaux" to "Cockade" by Various
That end will not be attained by our authors by subliming Religion into an emotion, and making an armistice with Science.
From Inspiration and Interpretation Seven Sermons Preached Before the University of Oxford by John William Burgon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
