sublime

Word family

sub·lime1 /səˈblaɪm/ adjectiveadj

1 GOOD/EXCELLENTsomething that is sublime is so good or beautiful that it affects you deeply 卓越的，超群的；令人赞叹的

The view was sublime.

景色十分迷人。

Her songs are a sublime fusion of pop and Brazilian music.

她的歌曲是流行乐和巴西音乐的巧妙融合。

2 DON'T CAREused to describe feelings or behaviour that are very great or extreme, especially when someone seems not to notice what is happening around them 〔感觉或行为〕极端的

an air of sublime contentment

极为满足的神态

—sublimely adverbadv

—sublimeness noun [uncountableU]

—sublimity /səˈblɪməti/ noun [uncountableU]

Examples from the Corpus

sublime• The almond cake is particularly sublime.• We are taught, correctly, that forgiveness is sublime, but often forgiveness leaves us unjustly suspended in emotional conflict.• I was amazed at his sublime insensitivity to other people's feelings.• But others saw it in a more sublime light.• They get compared to Kraftwerk quite a lot-mainly because their songs are based around the most sublime melodies.• Light in texture, it is sublime served with cascades of cream poured over.• A happy holiday course in a sublime setting sums up Ufford Park nicely.• Once the necessary control has been acquired, the two beings are fused and reach sublime spiritual joy.

sublime2 noun

1 the sublime something that is so good or beautiful that you are deeply affected by it 高尚，崇高；壮丽，宏伟；庄严

The works on display range from the mainstream to the sublime.

展出的作品有主流的，也有非凡出众的。

Examples from the Corpus

the sublime• In the age of machines, there is little place for the sublime.

2. from the sublime to the ridiculous STUPID/NOT SENSIBLEused to say that a serious and important thing or event is being followed by something very silly, unimportant, or bad 〔指事物或事件〕从高超到荒谬，从一个极端到另一个极端

Examples from the Corpus

from the sublime to the ridiculous• After due consideration she decided to go from the sublime to the ridiculous.• Chelsea's capacity for lurching from the sublime to the ridiculous is a tradition.• Constructed layer by layer, Ostrowski's canvases range from the sublime to the ridiculous, presenting many paradoxes in the process.• His paintings range from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Examples from the Corpus

sublime• It brings out the worst and the best in people, the ridiculous and the sublime.• Her wordy text clearly aims for the sublime, but it ends up collapsing into the ridiculous.• In the machine age there was little place for the sublime.• The works range from the sublime, with textured prints in iridescent gold, to humorously eccentric meat and sky collages.• All of this may seem a digression from what this article set out to be: an inquiry into the sublime.• In the twentieth century experiences of the sublime have been extended to include those which have been made possible by technology.• It's easy to understand that the vast wilderness encouraged thoughts of the sublime.

Origin sublime1

(1300-1400) Latin sublimis “raised above the ordinary”, from limen “doorstep, threshold”

sub·lime1 adjectiveadjsublime2 noun

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus