Meanings
plural transcendentalists
- One who believes in transcendentalism.
“I accept the universe” is reported to have been a favorite utterance of our New England transcendentalist, Margaret Fuller; and when some one repeated this phrase to Thomas Carlyle, his sardonic comment is said to have been: “Gad! she'd better!”
1902, William James, “Lecture 2”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLCSynonyms: transcendental
- Any of a group of philosophers who assert that true knowledge is obtained by faculties of the mind that transcend sensory experience; those who exalt intuition above empirical knowledge and ordinary mentation. Used in modern times of some post-Kantian German philosophers, and of the school of Emerson.
Synonyms: transcendental
Synonyms & antonyms
nounOne who believes in transcendentalism.
nounAny of a group of philosophers who assert that true knowledge is obtained by faculties of the mind that transcend sensory experience; those who exalt intuition above empirical knowledge and ordinary mentation. Used in modern times of some post-Kantian German philosophers, and of the school of Emerson.
Origin
Cite this entry
transcendentalist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transcendentalist
“transcendentalist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transcendentalist. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “transcendentalist,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transcendentalist.
Source: transcendentalist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.