transcendental

[ tran-sen-den-tl, -suhn- ]
See synonyms for transcendental on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. transcendent, surpassing, or superior.

  2. being beyond ordinary or common experience, thought, or belief; supernatural.

  1. abstract or metaphysical.

  2. idealistic, lofty, or extravagant.

  3. Philosophy.

    • beyond the contingent and accidental in human experience, but not beyond all human knowledge.: Compare transcendent (def. 4b).

    • pertaining to certain theories, etc., explaining what is objective as the contribution of the mind.

    • Kantianism. of, pertaining to, based upon, or concerned with a priori elements in experience, which condition human knowledge.: Compare transcendent (def. 4b).

noun
  1. Mathematics. transcendental number.

  2. transcendentals, Scholasticism. categories that have universal application, as being, one, true, good.

Origin of transcendental

1
From the Medieval Latin word trānscendentālis, dating back to 1615–25. See transcendent, -al1

Other words from transcendental

  • tran·scen·den·tal·i·ty, noun
  • tran·scen·den·tal·ly, adverb
  • un·tran·scen·den·tal, adjective
  • un·tran·scen·den·tal·ly, adverb

Words Nearby transcendental

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use transcendental in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for transcendental

transcendental

/ (ˌtrænsɛnˈdɛntəl) /


adjective
  1. transcendent, superior, or surpassing

  2. (in the philosophy of Kant)

    • (of a judgment or logical deduction) being both synthetic and a priori

    • of or relating to knowledge of the presuppositions of thought

  1. philosophy beyond our experience of phenomena, although not beyond potential knowledge

  2. theol surpassing the natural plane of reality or knowledge; supernatural or mystical

Derived forms of transcendental

  • transcendentality, noun
  • transcendentally, adverb

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