sublime

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Characterized by nobility; majestic.
2. adj. Of high spiritual, moral, or intellectual worth.
3. adj. Not to be excelled; supreme.
4. adj. Inspiring awe; impressive.
5. adj. Archaic Raised aloft; set high.
6. adj. Obsolete Of lofty appearance or bearing; haughty: "not terrible,/That I should fear . . . /But solemn and sublime” ( John Milton).
7. n. Something sublime.
8. n. An ultimate example.
9. v. To render sublime.
10. v. Chemistry To cause to sublimate.
11. v. Chemistry To sublimate.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. High in place; uplifted; elevated; exalted; lofty.
2. High in excellence; elevated by nature; exalted above men in general by lofty or noble traits; eminent: said of persons.
3. Striking the mind with a sense of grandeur or power, physical or moral; calculated to awaken awe, veneration, exalted or heroic feeling, and the like; lofty; grand; noble: noting a natural object or scenery, an action or conduct, a discourse, a work of man's hands, a spectacle, etc.: as, sublime scenery; sublime heroism.
4. Of lofty mien; elevated in manner, expression, or appearance.
5. In anatomy, superficial; not deep-seated: opposed to profound: as, the sublime flexor of the fingers (the flexor sublimis, a muscle).
6. Synonyms and Grand, Lofty, Sublime, majestic, stately. Grand founds its meanings on the idea of great size, lofty and sublime on that of height. Natural objects may be sublime without physical height, if vastness and great impressiveness are present. In the moral field the sublime is that which is so high above ordinary human achievements as to give the impression of astonishment blended with awe, as the leap of Curtius into the chasm, or the death of the martyr Stephen. In moral things the grand suggests both vastness and elevation. Lofty may imply pride, but in this connection it notes only a lower degree of the sublime, sublime being the strongest word in the language for ideas of its class.
7. n. That which is sublime: commonly with the definite article. In lit., that which is most elevated, stately, or imposing in style.
8. n. The grand, impressive, and awe-inspiring in the works of nature or art, as distinguished from the beautiful: occasionally with the indefinite article, to express a particular character of sublimity.
9. n. That which has been elevated and sublimated to its extreme limit; a noble and exalted ideal.
10. To raise on high.
11. To sublimate.
12. To elevate; refine; purify; etherealize.
13. To be affected by sublimation; be brought or changed into a state of vapor by heat, and then condensed by cold, as camphor or sulphur.
14. To become exalted as by sublimation.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Noble and majestic.
2. adj. Impressive and awe-inspiring.
3. n. something sublime
4. v. To sublimate.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Lifted up; high in place; exalted aloft; uplifted; lofty.
2. adj. Distinguished by lofty or noble traits; eminent; -- said of persons.
3. adj. Awakening or expressing the emotion of awe, adoration, veneration, heroic resolve, etc.; dignified; grand; solemn; stately; -- said of an impressive object in nature, of an action, of a discourse, of a work of art, of a spectacle, etc..
4. adj. Elevated by joy; elate.
5. adj. Lofty of mien; haughty; proud.
6. n. A grand or lofty style in speaking or writing; a style that expresses lofty conceptions.
7. n. That which is grand in nature or art, as distinguished from the merely beautiful.
8. v. To raise on high.
9. v. To subject to the process of sublimation; to heat, volatilize, and condense in crystals or powder; to distill off, and condense in solid form; hence, also, to purify.
10. v. To exalt; to heighten; to improve; to purify.
11. v. To dignify; to ennoble.
12. v. To pass off in vapor, with immediate condensation; specifically, to evaporate or volatilize from the solid state without apparent melting; -- said of those substances, like arsenic, benzoic acid, etc., which do not exhibit a liquid form on heating, except under increased pressure.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. inspiring awe
2. adj. worthy of adoration or reverence
3. adj. lifted up or set high
4. v. vaporize and then condense right back again
5. adj. of high moral or intellectual value; elevated in nature or style
6. v. change or cause to change directly from a solid into a vapor without first melting