transcendent
transcendent Lexical Profile
transcendent Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Surpassing the ordinary; exceptional or supreme in quality, degree, or achievement.
"The cellist delivered a transcendent performance that left the entire concert hall in stunned silence."
Going beyond the limits of normal human experience, physical existence, or material reality.
"Meditation helped her reach a transcendent state of calm that felt detached from everyday worries."
(In theology) existing apart from and not subject to the limitations of the material universe.
"In many monotheistic traditions, the divine is understood as both transcendent above creation and immanent within it."
• noun
Something that surpasses ordinary limits or exists beyond the material realm.
"Throughout his philosophical writings, he sought to explain how art connects humanity with a higher transcendent."
Word Nuance & Usage
Often confused with 'transcendental'; while 'transcendent' generally means surpassing ordinary limits or existing beyond the material universe, 'transcendental' specifically refers to a priori philosophical categories (as in Kantian philosophy) or the 19th-century literary movement.
• Rhymes for transcendent
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Middle English, borrowed from Old French or directly from Latin transcendentem, the present participle of transcendere ('to climb over or surpass'), formed from trans- ('across, beyond') and scandere ('to climb').