sublimation
noun
- type defense mechanism where socially unacceptable impulses or idealizations are unconsciously transformed into socially acceptable actions or behavior
- act or process of having a purifying, ennobling effect
- act or process of transitioning directly from a solid to a gas state
Wiktionary
noun
Etymology: From Middle English sublimacioun, sublimacion, from Medieval Latin sublīmātiō, from Latin sublīmō (“to raise, to elevate”, verb). Synchronically, sublimate + -ion.
- The transition of a substance from the solid phase directly to the vapor state such that it does not pass through the intermediate liquid phase.
“It uses dry ice pellets (capsules of frozen carbon dioxide), blown at supersonic speed onto the railhead through a small nozzle. Any leaf contamination on the line is frozen, becoming brittle. The pellets then change instantly from solid to gas without going through a liquid stage (a process known as sublimation).”
- The transformation of an impulse into something socially constructive.
- Elevation; exaltation; a making sublime.