Sublimate

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈsʌblɪmeɪt/

Definitions

1. To convert a solid directly into gas without becoming liquid, or to channel primitive impulses into refined and socially constructive behaviors
2. To transform matter from solid state straight to vapor, or to elevate base instincts and emotions into noble intellectual and artistic expression
3. To change a solid directly into a gas without passing through the liquid phase ; to channel raw impulses into higher, socially approved activities

Etymology: The sense that most people know, turning a base impulse into something refined, is the older of the two in one sense and the later one in another. The Latin "sublīmāre" meant "to raise, elevate," built from "sublīmis," "raised up," and it was a physical word long before it was a psychological one. English took the form in Middle English as "sublymate," and for centuries it was used in the chemist's sense of lifting a solid into a vapor and letting it condense again, a process alchemists treated as a purification. The idea of raising an ordinary substance to a higher state carried over naturally into the metaphor of raising a drive or emotion into art or thought. The psychological sense is the one that stuck with the word's modern reputation. Sigmund Freud used the term in this way, describing how energy from repressed sexual or aggressive impulses could be redirected into socially valued activity, and the word became closely tied to his theories in popular usage. The chemical sense remains in ordinary use, so the word now carries both a precise laboratory meaning and a looser, more human one.

Synonyms: refine, purify, elevate, transform, convert

Antonyms: degrade, deteriorate, lower, pollute, taint