Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sublimity
1520–30; < Latin sublīmitās height, equivalent to sublīm ( is ) sublime + -itās -ity
Explanation
Something that's very beautiful, noble, or excellent has the quality of sublimity. You might be overwhelmed by the magnificence and sublimity of the view you see the first time you visit the Grand Canyon. The noun sublimity describes a characteristic that's a little hard to pin down. When something is sublime, it transcends greatness or beauty for the observer — like a deeply moving film or a transcendent piece of music. So when something is truly wonderful, or someone acts in a truly noble way, it's an example of sublimity. The Latin root, sublimis, means "uplifted, high, or exalted."
Vocabulary lists containing sublimity
The Princess Bride
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Butterfly Yellow
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"Grand Canyon Speech"
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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:
Nonetheless, this production finds the sublimity in our submission to fate, whatever that may be.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
Let's give the biblical authors credit for taking the sublimity of our loss straight up instead of chasing false consolations.
From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2024
But when Cootie finally leaves the house as a teenager, he falls in love with this world, in all its sublimity and stupidity.
From New York Times ● Jun. 19, 2023
The tone of the score, from first note to last, is sustained sublimity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2023
I was feeling dizzy, but since the capital moment of my life was coming up this dizziness only added to my sense of frightened sublimity.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
It's a buddy movie shot in soft light that aspires to comfort an older generation while informing the young that life's messiness and sublimities don't end at 40.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2018
It is a testament to Forman’s fascination with the foibles and sublimities of the human spirit, and how cunning and tenderness, along with enduring passion, play out against our cruelties and better angels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2018
“Likeness” encompasses such sublimities as Donatello’s painted terra-cotta bust of an Italian aristocrat, which shines with aloof sensitivity, and Rodin’s breathtaking translucent “Mask of Hanako II Type E,” which seems the soul incarnate.
From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2018
“Mel Allen’s life was one long, extended, exhaustive, triumphant prayer,” he said, “a call to us to see the sublimities of the stolen sign or the first seasonal shifts of the wind.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 4, 2010
What, with these sublimities of character, need we know of her visible charms, or lack of them?
From The Book of Khalid by Ameen Fares Rihani
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.
