different between surmount vs transcend

English

Etymology

From Middle English [Term?], from Old French surmonter (“to rise above, surmount”), from sur- (“above”) + monter (“to mount”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /s??ma?nt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /s??ma?nt/

Verb

surmount (third-person singular simple present surmounts, present participle surmounting, simple past and past participle surmounted)

1. (transitive) To get over; to overcome.
   • 1748. David Hume. Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 10.

     this difficulty may perhaps be surmounted by care and art

2. (transitive) To cap; to sit on top off.

Related terms

• surmountable
• insurmountable

Translations

Further reading

• surmount in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• surmount in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• surmount at OneLook Dictionary Search

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): /t?æn(t)?s?nd/

Verb

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

1. (transitive) to pass beyond the limits of something.
   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     such personal popes, emperors, or elective kings, as shall transcend their limits

2. (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.

3. (obsolete) To climb; to mount.
   • September 5 1632, James Howell, "To Sir Tho. Haw." in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ

     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

Further reading

• transcend in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• transcend in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.