sub·lim·i·ty | \ sə-ˈbli-mə-tē 
\
\ plural sublimities
Definition of sublimity
1 : the quality or state of being sublime
2 : something sublime or exalted
Examples of sublimity in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web What began in banality ended in sublimity as the subject everyone was skirting — death — was finally approached via Bach’s Mass in B Minor and the deep listening of Maryann Plunkett’s performance.
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Charles Mcnulty Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, "Best theater in 2020: In a year to forget, virtuoso performances to remember," 8 Dec. 2020 Gogol creates conversations so insipid as to achieve a kind of negative sublimity.
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Gary Saul Morson, The New York Review of Books, "An Incandescent Inanity," 3 Nov. 2020 In the United States, Wagnerites saw the sublimity of his music as a rebuke to the materialism and philistinism that surrounded them.
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Adam Kirsch, The New Republic, "The Problem With Redemption for Wagner," 11 Sep. 2020 In many ways, Cuyahoga Valley can’t compete with the scale or sublimity of the national parks in the West.
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New York Times, "Leaf Peeping Is Not Canceled: 6 Drives and Hikes to Try This Fall," 1 Oct. 2020 The sublimity of his skill occasions no relief, but, rather, the opposite.
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Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, "Goya and the Art of Survival," 14 Sep. 2020 Does this mean that there is some essential connection between Wagner and Hitler, sublimity and cruelty, revolution and annihilation?
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Adam Kirsch, The New Republic, "The Problem With Redemption for Wagner," 11 Sep. 2020 Their sublimity lay on the other side of all my attempts to summon them with language—these habitats of light, cubes of sky, sustained by quiet, metallic respiration.
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Leslie Jamison, The Atlantic, "The Beating Pulse of Donald Judd," 31 Aug. 2020 And despite the flurry, the gentle breeze from the Sabarmati river brought with it a sense of Wordsworthian sublimity.
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Manavi Kapur, Quartz India, "Gandhi’s former Sabarmati home remained a sanctuary of calm amid Trump’s visit," 24 Feb. 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sublimity.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for sublimity
The first known use of sublimity was in the 15th century
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