transcend

English

Etymology

From Middle English transcenden, from Old French transcender, from Latin transcendere (“to climb over, step over, surpass, transcend”), from trans (“over”) + scandere (“to climb”); see scan; compare ascend, descend.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /tɹæn(t)ˈsɛnd/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɛnd

Verb

transcend (third-person singular simple present transcends, present participle transcending, simple past and past participle transcended)

(transitive) To pass beyond the limits of something.
- a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a VVarre vvith Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany VVorks of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC:
  such personal popes, emperors, or elective kings, as shall transcend their limits
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Virmire:
  Shepard: What do you want from us? Slaves? Resources?
  My kind transcends your very understanding. We are each a nation. Independent, free of all weakness. You cannot grasp the nature of our existence.
(transitive) To surpass, as in intensity or power; to excel.
- c. 1698, John Dryden, Epitaph on the Monument of a Fair Maiden Lady:
  How much her worth transcended all her kind.
(obsolete) To climb; to mount.
lights in the heavens transcending the region of the clouds
- 1655, James Howell, “To Sir Tho. Haw.”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume (please specify the page), London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], →OCLC:
  your Muse soars up to the upper, and transcending that too, takes her fight among the Celestial bodies

Synonyms

(to pass beyond the limits of something): exceed, overgo, surpass; see also Thesaurus:transcend
(to surpass something): better, dwarf, eclipse; see also Thesaurus:exceed
(to climb): ascend

Derived terms

Translations

to pass beyond the limits of something

Bulgarian: надхвърлям (bg) (nadhvǎrljam), превишавам (bg) (previšavam)
Catalan: ultrapassar (ca), transcendir (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 超越 (zh) (chāoyuè)
Czech: překonat (cs)
Dutch: overstijgen (nl)
Finnish: ylittää (fi)
French: transcender (fr)
German: übersteigen (de)
Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 越える。超越する
Latin: supero
Portuguese: transcender (pt)
Russian: переступа́ть преде́лы impf (perestupátʹ predély)
Serbo-Croatian: transcendirati
Spanish: trascender (es)
Turkish: aşmak (tr)

to surpass something in intensity or power; to excel

Bulgarian: превъзхождам (bg) (prevǎzhoždam)
Catalan: ultrapassar (ca), transcendir (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 超越 (zh) (chāoyuè)
Finnish: ylittää (fi)
Japanese: ^{(please verify)} まさる、より優れている
Russian: превосходи́ть (ru) impf (prevosxodítʹ), превыша́ть (ru) impf (prevyšátʹ)
Serbo-Croatian: prevazići, nadići
Swahili: shinda