transcendentalism
noun
tran·scen·den·tal·ism
ˌtran(t)-ˌsen-ˈden-tə-ˌli-zəm 
-sən-
1
: a philosophy that emphasizes the a priori conditions of knowledge and experience or the unknowable character of ultimate reality or that emphasizes the transcendent as the fundamental reality
2
: a philosophy that asserts the primacy of the spiritual and transcendental over the material and empirical
3
: the quality or state of being transcendental
especially
: visionary idealism
Examples of transcendentalism in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Johnson spoke with us about the film’s origins, transcendentalism and never quite being done.
—
Los Angeles Times Staff, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2024
For much of the year, Alan Lightman lives less than a mile from Walden Pond, the Massachusetts spot where Henry David Thoreau popularized transcendentalism and its ideas about a direct connection to the divine through nature.
—Danny Heitman, WSJ, 16 Mar. 2023
By 1840 he was well known both as a public lecturer and as the titular head of that newfangled doctrine, transcendentalism.
—Brenda Wineapple, The New York Review of Books, 8 Apr. 2021
Though The Will to Live is lyrically rich with a kind of punk transcendentalism, the album sounds anything but natural.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 9 Sep. 2022
So was exploring how the ideals of transcendentalism (the philosophical movement led by Ralph Waldo Emerson) influenced his character.
—Gregg Goldstein, Variety, 8 Sep. 2022
Hickey goes on to read Gober’s stacks of newspapers and boxes of rat poison placed within a paint-by-numbers wraparound wallpaper of a New England forest as situated between the history of American transcendentalism and the raging AIDS crisis.
—Jarrett Earnest, The New York Review of Books, 8 June 2022
At the center of the story are Ralph Waldo Emerson and his protégé, Henry David Thoreau, who championed transcendentalism as a way to break with dogmas of the Old World so that Americans would be empowered to think for themselves.
—Danny Heitman, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Dec. 2021
While Emerson was diving into nature to become a transparent eyeball, forging the new, homegrown American philosophy of transcendentalism, Poe was cobbling together a myriad of sources in a wild patchwork.
—Colin Dickey, The New Republic, 21 July 2021
Los Angeles Times Staff, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2024
For much of the year, Alan Lightman lives less than a mile from Walden Pond, the Massachusetts spot where Henry David Thoreau popularized transcendentalism and its ideas about a direct connection to the divine through nature.
—Danny Heitman, WSJ, 16 Mar. 2023
By 1840 he was well known both as a public lecturer and as the titular head of that newfangled doctrine, transcendentalism.
—Brenda Wineapple, The New York Review of Books, 8 Apr. 2021
Though The Will to Live is lyrically rich with a kind of punk transcendentalism, the album sounds anything but natural.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 9 Sep. 2022
So was exploring how the ideals of transcendentalism (the philosophical movement led by Ralph Waldo Emerson) influenced his character.
—Gregg Goldstein, Variety, 8 Sep. 2022
Hickey goes on to read Gober’s stacks of newspapers and boxes of rat poison placed within a paint-by-numbers wraparound wallpaper of a New England forest as situated between the history of American transcendentalism and the raging AIDS crisis.
—Jarrett Earnest, The New York Review of Books, 8 June 2022
At the center of the story are Ralph Waldo Emerson and his protégé, Henry David Thoreau, who championed transcendentalism as a way to break with dogmas of the Old World so that Americans would be empowered to think for themselves.
—Danny Heitman, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Dec. 2021
While Emerson was diving into nature to become a transparent eyeball, forging the new, homegrown American philosophy of transcendentalism, Poe was cobbling together a myriad of sources in a wild patchwork.
—Colin Dickey, The New Republic, 21 July 2021
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'transcendentalism.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near transcendentalism
Cite this Entry
“Transcendentalism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transcendentalism. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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