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Apr 12, 2024
This week’s theme
Words from chem lab

This week’s words
precipitate
titrate
crucible
volatile
sublimate

sublimate
Illustration: Anu Garg + AI

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Words made with combining forms
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

sublimate

PRONUNCIATION:
(verb: SUHB-luh-mayt, noun, adj.: -mit)

MEANING:
verb tr.:1. To divert basic or instinctual impulses to something more socially acceptable.
 2. To refine or purify.
verb tr., intr.:To directly transform from solid to gas, or vice versa, bypassing the liquid state.
adjective:Refined; purified; elevated; exalted.
noun:A substance obtained by sublimating.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin sublimare (to elevate). Earliest documented use: 1425.

USAGE:
“But he mustn’t show it; he must subdue his eagerness and sublimate his need.”
Edwin L. Millet; Another Kind of Hero; Xlibris; 2014.

See more usage examples of sublimate in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

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If life's lessons could be reduced to single sentences, there would be no need for fiction. -Scott Turow, author and lawyer (b. 12 Apr 1949)

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