transcendentalism

[ tran-sen-den-tl-iz-uhm, -suhn- ]

/ ˌtræn sɛnˈdɛn tlˌɪz əm, -sən- /

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noun

transcendental character, thought, or language.

Also called transcendental philosophy. any philosophy based upon the doctrine that the principles of reality are to be discovered by the study of the processes of thought, or a philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual above the empirical: in the U.S., associated with Emerson.

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Origin of transcendentalism

From the German word Transcendentalismus, dating back to 1795–1805. See transcendental, -ism

OTHER WORDS FROM transcendentalism

tran·scen·den·tal·ist, noun, adjective

Words nearby transcendentalism

transcendental dialectic, transcendental ego, transcendental equation, transcendental function, transcendental idealism, transcendentalism, transcendentalize, transcendental logic, transcendental meditation, transcendental number, transcendental unity of apperception

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use transcendentalism in a sentence

That was sadly even true for Margaret Fuller, one of the leading lights of transcendentalism.
Why Do Women Love Bad Men? A New Life of Margaret Fuller|Susan Cheever|March 22, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Your religion does not make it—its ethics are too weak, its theories too unsound, its transcendentalism is too thin.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
The vagueness of transcendentalism is united with the materialism of nature worship, and the resulting equation is pessimism.
The War Upon Religion|Rev. Francis A. Cunningham
Here we have the root of the errors which are distinctive of dualism and the prevailing metaphysical transcendentalism.
The Wonders of Life|Ernst Haeckel

Transcendentalism, too, had just passed the noon meridian of its splendor.
John Greenleaf Whittier|W. Sloane Kennedy
The chief fountains of this tradition were Calvinism and transcendentalism.
Winds Of Doctrine|George Santayana

British Dictionary definitions for transcendentalism

transcendentalism

/ (ˌtrænsɛnˈdɛntəˌlɪzəm) /

noun

any system of philosophy, esp that of Kant, holding that the key to knowledge of the nature of reality lies in the critical examination of the processes of reason on which depends the nature of experience
any system of philosophy, esp that of Emerson, that emphasizes intuition as a means to knowledge or the importance of the search for the divine

vague philosophical speculation

the state of being transcendental

something, such as thought or language, that is transcendental

Derived forms of transcendentalism

transcendentalist, noun, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for transcendentalism

transcendentalism

A movement in nineteenth-century American literature and thought. It called on people to view the objects in the world as small versions of the whole universe and to trust their individual intuitions. The two most noted American transcendentalists were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.