transcendental

[tran-sen-den-tl, -suh n-] /ˌtræn sɛnˈdɛn tl, -sən-/
adjective
1.
transcendent, surpassing, or superior.
2.
being beyond ordinary or common experience, thought, or belief; supernatural.
3.
abstract or metaphysical.
4.
idealistic, lofty, or extravagant.
5.
Philosophy.
  1. beyond the contingent and accidental in human experience, but not beyond all human knowledge.
    Compare transcendent (def 4b).
  2. pertaining to certain theories, etc., explaining what is objective as the contribution of the mind.
  3. Kantianism. of, pertaining to, based upon, or concerned with a priori elements in experience, which condition human knowledge.
    Compare transcendent (def 4b).
noun
6.
Mathematics, transcendental number.
7.
transcendentals, Scholasticism. categories that have universal application, as being, one, true, good.
Origin
1615-25; < Medieval Latin trānscendentālis. See transcendent, -al1
Related forms
transcendentality, noun
transcendentally, adverb
untranscendental, adjective
untranscendentally, adverb
Examples from the web for transcendental
  • Normally, this could be a transcendental experience.
  • It is also a transcendental number, which means it is not algebraic.
  • But the technologies behind both environments make the same transcendental promise: escape from the stink of humanity.
  • Yet the garden remains a powerful, even transcendental archetype.
  • Kunene is renowned for the transcendental and ethereal quality of his songs.
  • Frost valued impulse over reason, transcendental truth over logic.
  • Whether or not she does, her paintings are as sensuous as they are transcendental.
  • To understand empirical reality requires transcendental understanding.
  • OR many, the urge to believe in transcendental existence and immortality is overpowering.
  • Nothing transcendental was clamoring to get out of him at the moment.
British Dictionary definitions for transcendental

transcendental

/ˌtrænsɛnˈdɛntəl/
adjective
1.
transcendent, superior, or surpassing
2.
(in the philosophy of Kant)
  1. (of a judgment or logical deduction) being both synthetic and a priori
  2. of or relating to knowledge of the presuppositions of thought
3.
(philosophy) beyond our experience of phenomena, although not beyond potential knowledge
4.
(theol) surpassing the natural plane of reality or knowledge; supernatural or mystical
Derived Forms
transcendentality, noun
transcendentally, adverb
Word Origin and History for transcendental
adj.

1660s, from Medieval Latin transcendentalis, from Latin transcendentem (see transcendent). Transcendental meditation attested by 1966.