sublimate

/ˈsʌblɪmət/

Other forms: sublimated; sublimates; sublimating

When you're at a lecture and you feel restless, you've got to sublimate the desire to move around. That means you force the desire to be more subtle so you can continue listening — even if you don't want to.

Psychologists use the verb sublimate to describe the process of channeling intense energy into something useful or appropriate. Freud sublimated his desire to live at home with his mother, and he moved into his own apartment. Sublimate is related to the word sublime — both words come from the Latin word sublimare, which means "to raise up" or "to exalt." So Freud's finally getting his own place is, arguably, a superior — a more exalted — living situation.

Definitions of sublimate

1. verb

   change or cause to change directly from a solid into a vapor without first melting
   synonyms: sublime

   type of:

   aerify, gasify, vaporise, vaporize

   turn into gas
2. verb

   make more subtle or refined
   synonyms: rarefy, subtilize

   type of:

   alter, change, modify

   cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
3. verb

   direct energy or urges into useful activities
   types:

   desexualise, desexualize

   direct one's libidinous urges into another direction

   type of:

   airt, redirect

   channel into a new direction
4. verb

   remove impurities from, increase the concentration of, and separate through the process of distillation
   synonyms: distill, make pure, purify

   distil, distill

   undergo the process of distillation

   types:

   rectify, refine

   reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; separate from extraneous matter or cleanse from impurities

   purge

   rid of impurities

   type of:

   ameliorate, amend, better, improve, meliorate

   make better
5. verb

   vaporize and then condense right back again
   synonyms: sublime

   types:

   resublime

   sublime (a compound) once again

   type of:

   change

   undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature
6. noun

   the product of vaporization of a solid
   types:

   bichloride of mercury, corrosive sublimate, mercuric chloride, mercury chloride

   a white poisonous soluble crystalline sublimate of mercury; used as a pesticide or antiseptic or wood preservative

   type of:

   gas

   a fluid in the gaseous state having neither independent shape nor volume and being able to expand indefinitely
7. adjective

   made pure
   synonyms:

   pure

   free of extraneous elements of any kind