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sublimities

sublimities


  1  definition  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Sublimity  \Sub*lim"i*ty\,  n.;  pl  {Sublimities}.  [L.  sublimitas: 
  cf  F.  sublimit['e].] 
  1.  The  quality  or  state  of  being  sublime  (in  any  sense  of  the 
  adjective). 
 
  2.  That  which  is  sublime;  as  the  sublimities  of  nature. 
 
  Syn:  Grandeur;  magnificence. 
 
  Usage:  {Sublimity},  {Grandeur}.  The  mental  state  indicated  by 
  these  two  words  is  the  same  namely,  a  mingled  emotion 
  of  astonishment  and  awe.  In  speaking  of  the  quality 
  which  produces  this  emotion,  we  call  it  grandeur  when 
  it  springs  from  what  is  vast  in  space,  power,  etc.;  we 
  call  it  sublimity  when  it  springs  from  what  is 
  elevated  far  above  the  ordinary  incidents  of  humanity. 
  An  immense  plain  is  grand.  The  heavens  are  not  only 
  grand,  but  sublime  (as  the  predominating  emotion), 
  from  their  immense  height.  Exalted  intellect,  and 
  especially  exalted  virtue  under  severe  trials,  give  us 
  the  sense  of  moral  sublimity,  as  in  the  case  of  our 
  Savior  in  his  prayer  for  his  murderers.  We  do  not 
  speak  of  Satan,  when  standing  by  the  fiery  gulf,  with 
  his  ``unconquerable  will  and  study  of  revenge,''  as  a 
  sublime  object;  but  there  is  a  melancholy  grandeur 
  thrown  around  him  as  of  an  ``archangel  ruined.''