transcendent

surpassing all others; pre-eminent: Her beauty was transcendent.

Not to be confused with:

transcendental – mystical; knowledge derived from intuitive sources: It was a transcendental experience.

tran·scen·dent

(trăn-sĕn′dənt)

adj.

1. Surpassing others; preeminent or supreme.

2. Lying beyond the ordinary range of perception: "fails to achieve a transcendent significance in suffering and squalor" (National Review).

3. Philosophy

a. Transcending the Aristotelian categories.

b. In Kant's theory of knowledge, being beyond the limits of experience and hence unknowable.

4. Being above and independent of the material universe. Used of the Deity.

tran·scen′dence, tran·scen′den·cy n.

tran·scen′dent·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

transcendent

(trænˈsɛndənt)

adj

1. exceeding or surpassing in degree or excellence

2. (Philosophy)

a. (in the philosophy of Kant) beyond or before experience; a priori

b. (of a concept) falling outside a given set of categories

c. beyond consciousness or direct apprehension

3. (Theology) theol (of God) having continuous existence outside the created world. Compare immanent²

4. (Theology) free from the limitations inherent in matter

(Philosophy) philosophy a transcendent thing

tranˈscendence, tranˈscendency n

tranˈscendently adv

tranˈscendentness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

tran•scend•ent

(trænˈsɛn dənt)

adj.

1. going beyond ordinary limits; surpassing; exceeding.

2. superior or supreme.

3. (of the Deity) transcending the universe, time, etc. Compare immanent (def. 2).

a. (in Kantian philosophy) transcending experience; not realizable in human experience.

b. (in modern realism) referred to, but beyond, direct apprehension; outside consciousness.

[1575–85; < Latin trānscendent-, s. of trānscendēns, present participle of trānscendere. See transcend, -ent]

tran•scend′ent•ly, adv.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	transcendent - exceeding or surpassing usual limits especially in excellence surpassing superior - of high or superior quality or performance; "superior wisdom derived from experience"; "superior math students"
	2.	transcendent - beyond and outside the ordinary range of human experience or understanding; "the notion of any transcendent reality beyond thought" unknowable - not knowable; "the unknowable mysteries of life"

transcendent

adjective unparalleled, unique, extraordinary, superior, exceeding, sublime, consummate, unrivalled, second to none, pre-eminent, transcendental, incomparable, peerless, unequalled, matchless the idea of a transcendent God who stood apart from mankind

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

transcendent

adjective

1. Of the greatest possible degree, quality, or intensity:

extreme, supreme, ultimate, unsurpassable, utmost, uttermost.

2. Existing only in concept and not in reality:

abstract, hypothetic, hypothetical, ideal, theoretic, theoretical, transcendental.

Translations

transcendente

transcendent

[trænˈsendənt] ADJ

1. (= outstanding) → sobresaliente

2. (Philos) → transcendente

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

transcendent

[trænˈsɛndənt] adj → transcendant(e)transcendental meditation [ˈtrænsɛnˌdənt^əlmɛdɪˈteɪʃ^ən] n → méditation f transcendantale

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

transcendent

adj (Philos) → transzendent; (= supreme) → hervorragend, alles übersteigend, überragend

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

transcendent

[trænˈsɛndənt] adj (frm) → trascendente

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Here again, then, as has been already observed, the transcendent excellence of Homer is manifest.

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In the afternoon several young girls of Marlott, former schoolfellows and acquaintances of Tess, called to see her, arriving dressed in their best starched and ironed, as became visitors to a person who had made a transcendent conquest (as they supposed), and sat round the room looking at her with great curiosity.

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The method was revealed perfectly in 'Smoke,' but each successive book of his that I read was a fresh proof of its truth, a revelation of its transcendent superiority.

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Nor was the step which had determined his advance - a visit to a dive with a month's wages in his pocket - an act of such transcendent virtue, or even wisdom, as to seem to merit the favour of the gods.

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The ladies, of course, were of no consequence to me, except to put me in a good humour with myself, by showing how ugly and awkward most of them were; and the best, mamma told me,--the most transcendent beauties among them, were nothing to me.

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He looked at her in amazement, the wonder of woman bursting upon him in a more transcendent glory than ever, and he had seen much of the wonder of woman in Genevieve.

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Upon the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the dissolution of the ties of allegiance, the assumption of sovereign power, and the institution of civil government, are all acts of transcendent authority, which the people alone are competent to perform; and, accordingly, it is in the name and by the authority of the people, that two of these acts--the dissolution of allegiance, with the severance from the British Empire, and the declaration of the United Colonies, as free and independent States--were performed by that instrument.

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They must have reflected, that in all great changes of established governments, forms ought to give way to substance; that a rigid adherence in such cases to the former, would render nominal and nugatory the transcendent and precious right of the people to "abolish or alter their governments as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness,"[2] since it is impossible for the people spontaneously and universally to move in concert towards their object; and it is therefore essential that such changes be instituted by some INFORMAL AND UNAUTHORIZED PROPOSITIONS, made by some patriotic and respectable citizen or number of citizens.

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Witness the white bear of the poles, and the white shark of the tropics; what but their smooth, flaky whiteness makes them the transcendent horrors they are?

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The music also of the challengers breathed from time to time wild bursts expressive of triumph or defiance, while the clowns grudged a holiday which seemed to pass away in inactivity; and old knights and nobles lamented in whispers the decay of martial spirit, spoke of the triumphs of their younger days, but agreed that the land did not now supply dames of such transcendent beauty as had animated the jousts of former times.

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It was as if some transcendent musician should draw a soul-thrilling sweetness out of a cracked instrument, which makes its physical imperfection heard in the midst of ethereal harmony,--so deep was the sensibility that found an organ in Hepzibah's voice!

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I - a- I'll know nobody - and - a - say nothing - and - a - live nowhere - until I have crushed - to - a - undiscoverable atoms - the - transcendent and immortal hypocrite and perjurer - HEEP!'

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