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

Any danger of “Bird School” vanishing into the transcendental ether disappears the moment the birds start showing up in the Bird House.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 5, 2025

But the aid was not "transcendental," he said.

From Barron's • Oct. 27, 2025

Many people report leaving their bodies and other transcendental experiences after near-fatal accidents.

From Salon • Apr. 10, 2025

By design, and to paraphrase one of its greatest tracks, some of it is just transcendental, some of it is delightfully dumb.

From New York Times • Apr. 9, 2024

Over a longer stretch of time, the Farewell Address achieved transcendental status, ranking alongside the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address as a seminal statement of America's abiding principles.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis