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Definitions

sublimate

[suhb-luh-meyt, suhb-luh-mit, -meyt] / ˈsʌb ləˌmeɪt, ˈsʌb lə mɪt, -ˌmeɪt /
VERB
purify
Synonyms
Antonyms


VERB
divert
Synonyms


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

It almost feels like some kind of test, where you are forced to sublimate your wishes and, perhaps, your self respect.

From MarketWatch Feb. 5, 2026

Gerwig is no less movingly misguided as Babette, who — like her husband, but through more extreme measures — tries to sublimate fears, both rational and irrational, of impending doom.

From Los Angeles Times Nov. 28, 2022

Halloween may be over, but if you ask me carving a gourd still seems like a good way to sublimate creeping dread.

From Slate Nov. 4, 2022

Dexter, too, has taught himself to sublimate his more extreme impulses; the parallels can seem uncomfortably apt.

From New York Times Nov. 2, 2021

Remedies.—Carefully wash the foot in warm soap-suds, and while still damp, apply between the claws on the affected part from one to three grains of corrosive sublimate.

From Domestic Animals History and description of the horse, mule, cattle, sheep, swine, poultry and farm dogs; with directions for their management, breeding, crossing, rearing, feeding, and preparation for a profitable market; also their diseases and remedies. Together with full directions for the management of the dairy. by Allen, Richard L.

He sublimates by focusing on new fabrication methods and by researching casting and molding techniques.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 27, 2026

With that said, I do think some surprising sensitivities within the conservative doctrine have come into view, as the movement sublimates into the uncomfortable posture of the establishment.

From Slate Feb. 12, 2026

"Because Martian air is so thin and the temperatures so cold, water-ice snow sublimates, or becomes a gas, before it even touches the ground. Dry-ice snow actually does reach the ground," NASA's website states.

From Salon May 16, 2025

Hoss, whose quiet, sympathetic gaze can register even the subtlest shifts in emotional temperature, here sublimates her star persona in much the same way that Sharon represses her own needs.

From Los Angeles Times Oct. 6, 2022

A white vapor sublimates upon the charcoal, while the external flame exhibits a greenish-blue color.

From A System of Instruction in the Practical Use of the Blowpipe Being A Graduated Course Of Analysis For The Use Of Students And All Those Engaged In The Examination Of Metallic Combinations by Anonymous

But the sibling competition, however sublimated, was real.

From The Wall Street Journal Nov. 21, 2025

In another scene, it fosters a shared revolt with the older women, who briefly allow their own sublimated pain to emerge.

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 7, 2025

The 12-foot-long cabinetlike work is the latest in the series that Peters calls “impossible monuments”: installations made out of disparate, significant materials that explore overlooked or sublimated matters of import.

From Seattle Times Jun. 20, 2024

Materials are sublimated in a vacuum under heat supply, i.e. they are converted from a solid to a gaseous state and condense on the substrate surface.

From Science Daily Mar. 14, 2024

This woman who was so down to earth and practical in all other aspects of life sublimated her childhood passion and lived it tragically.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

In earlier work, she showed that sublimating CO2 ice can trigger debris flows that cut deep channels along crater walls.

From Science Daily Oct. 16, 2025

Gas from the sunbathed, sublimating ice also puffs intermingled dust away from the surface to form a distinctive, comet-trailing tail.

From Scientific American Jun. 26, 2023

Yet they have enough in common that one might think they could be friends: Each is frustrated with life, work, their domestic arrangements, their parents; depressed; and sublimating their anger except as regards the other.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 10, 2023

Pfeiffer's Betty holds a softness in her strength while also sublimating a rage that magnificently roars to the surface the more Gerald's colleagues try to silence her.

From Salon Apr. 17, 2022

Suddenly he found himself sublimating his fear, rising to a place where he could look the scythe in his dark eyes, the same deep shade of blue as his robe.

From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman




Vocabulary lists containing sublimate


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