Meaning & use
Sublimate
Last updated
To redirect an emotion or impulse, especially one considered unacceptable, into a socially acceptable activity, or, in chemistry, to change a substance directly from a solid to a gas without passing through a liquid state.
See it in a sentence
He sublimated his anger into hours of intense training at the gym.
Dry ice sublimates at room temperature, turning directly into carbon dioxide gas.
A note on using this word
The psychological sense comes from Freudian theory, where sublimation is considered a mature defense mechanism, unlike outright repression.
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