Legal Writing

Word of the Day: Sublimate

By Daniel Scocco

Sublimate, in chemistry, means to purify or refine a substance. In psychology, on the other hand, it means to direct a sexual impulse to a more accepted social activity (e.g., art or sports), thus calming the sexual impulse.

For Mailer, incest represents the sick inversion of everything he cherishes: expansion of the self beyond one?s origins; the gift of empathy with the other; the ability to sublimate love into work and vice versa. (NY Times)

It’s not unlike followers of Zellweger’s anti-male manifesto in Down With Love who gobble chocolate to sublimate their animal urges. (USA Today)

Full post as published by Daily Writing Tips on December 08, 2009 (boomark / email).