transcendental

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

/ ˌtræn sɛnˈdɛn tl, -sən- /

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adjective

transcendent, surpassing, or superior.

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

abstract or metaphysical.

idealistic, lofty, or extravagant.

Philosophy.

beyond the contingent and accidental in human experience, but not beyond all human knowledge.Compare transcendent (def. 4b).
pertaining to certain theories, etc., explaining what is objective as the contribution of the mind.
Kantianism. of, pertaining to, based upon, or concerned with a priori elements in experience, which condition human knowledge.Compare transcendent (def. 4b).

noun

Mathematics. transcendental number.

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

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Origin of transcendental

From the Medieval Latin word trānscendentālis, dating back to 1615–25. See transcendent, -al¹

OTHER WORDS FROM transcendental

tran·scen·den·tal·i·ty, nountran·scen·den·tal·ly, adverbun·tran·scen·den·tal, adjectiveun·tran·scen·den·tal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use transcendental in a sentence

So long as we exalt this nature transcendentally to the clouds, we do not acquire its proper use.
The Positive Outcome of Philosophy|Joseph Dietzgen
By this standard you may measure the silly thought of those who speak transcendentally of an unlimited faculty of understanding.
The Positive Outcome of Philosophy|Joseph Dietzgen
The old logic could not construct any valid rules of thought, because it thought too transcendentally of thinking itself.
The Positive Outcome of Philosophy|Joseph Dietzgen
But he read transcendentally, not historically, to learn what he himself felt, not what others might have felt before him.
Winds Of Doctrine|George Santayana

It is the business of metaphysics to treat being transcendentally.
The Positive Outcome of Philosophy|Joseph Dietzgen

British Dictionary definitions for transcendental

transcendental

/ (ˌtrænsɛnˈdɛntəl) /

adjective

transcendent, superior, or surpassing

(in the philosophy of Kant)

(of a judgment or logical deduction) being both synthetic and a priori
of or relating to knowledge of the presuppositions of thought

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

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

Derived forms of transcendental

transcendentality, nountranscendentally, adverb

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

transcendental

Origin of transcendental

OTHER WORDS FROM transcendental

Words related to transcendental

How to use transcendental in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for transcendental

Derived forms of transcendental