sublimate

/ˈsʌblɪmeɪt/

sublimate verb: to change (a solid substance) into a gas without breaking down or passing through the liquid state by heating it gently.

Verb

sublimate (third-person singular simple present sublimates, present participle sublimating, simple past and past participle sublimated)

(transitive, generally) To change (a solid substance) into a gas without breaking down or passing through the liquid state by heating it gently.

Synonyms:

sublime
(transitive, chiefly passive voice) To change (a substance) from a gas into a solid through sublimation.

Synonyms:

sublime
(broadly, figuratively, transitive) To refine (something) until it disappears or loses all meaning.
(broadly, figuratively, transitive) To modify (the natural expression of a sexual or primitive instinct) in a socially acceptable manner; to divert the energy of (such an instinct) into some acceptable activity.
- Foreigners extol the American "energy" […] Basically it is the energy of violence, of free-floating resentment and anxiety unleashed by chronic cultural dislocations which must be, for the most part, ferociously sublimated. This energy has mainly been sublimated into crude materialism and...1969, Susan Sontag, “What’s Happening in America”, in Styles of Radical Will, Kindle edition, Penguin Modern Classics, published 2009, →ISBN, page 194
- When he got home from the parade, however, Professor Solanka was seized by melancholy, his usual secret sadness, which he sublimated into the public sphere. Something was amiss with the world. The optimistic peace-and-love philosophy of his youth having given him up, he no longer knew how to...2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 7
(archaic, broadly, figuratively, transitive) To obtain (something) through, or as if through, sublimation.
(archaic, broadly, figuratively, transitive) To purify or refine (a substance).
- The precepts of Christianity are […] so apt […] to cleanse and sublimate the more gross and corrupt.1667, attributed to Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety. […], London: […] R. Norton for T. Garthwait, […], →OCLC
(also, broadly, figuratively, transitive) To raise (someone) to a high office or status; to dignify, to elevate, to exalt.
(broadly, figuratively, transitive) To raise something to a state of excellence; to improve.
(intransitive) Of a substance: to change from a solid into a gas without passing through the liquid state, with or without being heated.

Synonyms:

sublime
(intransitive) Of a substance: to change from a gas into a solid without passing through the liquid state.

Synonyms:

sublime
(figuratively, intransitive) To modify the natural expression of a sexual or primitive instinct in a socially acceptable manner; to divert the energy of such an instinct into some acceptable activity.
(figuratively, intransitive) Synonym of sublime (“to become higher in quality or status; to improve”).

Synonyms:

sublime

Noun

sublimate (plural sublimates)

A product obtained by sublimation.

sublimate meaning in Tamil, Malayalam, Tagalog and Persian

sublimate in Tamil

பதங்கமாக்கியெடுத்தல், பதங்கம்

sublimate in Malayalam

control, channel, divert: ഉയർത്തുക, നേർവഴിക്കു നയിക്കുക, ദിശ തിരിച്ചു വിടുക, വഴി തിരിച്ചുവിടുക, തിരിച്ചുവിടുക, നിയന്ത്രിച്ചു കൊണ്ടു പോകുക

sublimate in Tagalog

to change (a solid substance) into a gas without breaking down or passing through the liquid state by heating it gently: lakdasingawin

sublimate in Persian

to change (a solid substance) into a gas without breaking down or passing through the liquid state by heating it gently: بخار کردن boxār kardan

More languagesFewer languages

sublimate in Thai: ระเหิด rá-hə̀ət
sublimate in Vietnamese: thăng hoa

Examples of sublimate in a sentence

This energy has mainly been sublimated into crude materialism and acquisitiveness.1969, Susan Sontag, “What’s Happening in America”, in Styles of Radical Will, Kindle edition, Penguin Modern Classics, published 2009...
When he got home from the parade, however, Professor Solanka was seized by melancholy, his usual secret sadness, which he sublimated into the public sphere.2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 7:

Synonyms of sublimate

sublime

Antonyms

Forms of sublimate

Verb
third-person singular present	sublimates
present participle	sublimating
past participle	sublimated
past	sublimated
Noun
plural	sublimates

Past tense of sublimate: sublimated

Origin of sublimate

From Middle English sublymate, from Latin sublīmātus, past participle of sublīmāre (“to raise, elevate”).

Words formed from sublimate

Questions about sublimate

What does sublimate mean?: Sublimate means to change (a solid substance) into a gas without breaking down or passing through the liquid state by heating it gently.
What is sublimate in Tamil?: Sublimate in Tamil is பதங்கமாக்கியெடுத்தல், பதங்கம். See Sublimate meaning in Tamil.
How do you use sublimate in a sentence?: This energy has mainly been sublimated into crude materialism and acquisitiveness.
What part of speech is sublimate?: Sublimate can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce sublimate?: Sublimate is pronounced /ˈsʌblɪmeɪt/.
What is the past tense of sublimate?: The past tense of sublimate is sublimated.

Words near sublimate in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: sublimate (page history and authors); sublimate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sublimate (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-sublimate.ogg, en-au-sublimate.ogg.

Cite this entry: “sublimate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sublimate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.