1. A system of philosophy that emphasizes the intuitive and spiritual above the physical, scientific, and material: Founders of the American movement of transcendentalism were striving "to climb beyond" traditional empirical thinking, favoring instead a person’s insight or premonition and natural spirituality.

Ralph Waldo Emerson summed up the beliefs of transcendentalism when he said, "What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

2. Etymology: from Latin transcendere, "to climb over or beyond, to surmount"; from trans-, "beyond" + scandere, "to climb".