transcendental

/trænsɪnˈdɛnttəl/

/trænsɪnˈdɛnttəl/

Transcendental describes anything that has to do with the spiritual, non-physical world. You could describe the time you spend in the woods hiking as a physical and a transcendental experience.

When something is transcendental, it's beyond ordinary, everyday experience. It might be religious, spiritual, or otherworldly, but if it's transcendental, it transcends — or goes beyond — the regular physical realm. The adjective transcendental is used to describe a particular kind of meditation, a specific school of philosophy, and even a type of number in mathematics. Transcendental and transcend come from the Latin word transcendere, or climb over or beyond.

Definitions of transcendental

1. adjective

   existing outside of or not in accordance with nature
   “"find transcendental motives for sublunary action"-Aldous Huxley”

   synonyms: nonnatural, otherworldly, preternatural

   supernatural

   not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws; not physical or material
2. adjective

   of or characteristic of a system of philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual above the empirical and material