Definition of "transcend"

transcend

/tɹæn(t)ˈsɛnd/

verb
third-person singular simple present transcends, present participle transcending, simple past and past participle transcended
1. (transitive) To pass beyond the limits of something.
  Quotations
  such personal popes, emperors, or elective kings, as shall transcend their limits
  a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a VVarre vvith Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany VVorks of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629
  Shepard: What do you want from us? Slaves? Resources?My kind transcends your very understanding. We are each a nation. Independent, free of all weakness. You cannot grasp the nature of our existence.
  2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Virmire
2. (transitive) To surpass, as in intensity or power; to excel.
  Quotations
  How much her worth transcended all her kind.
  c. 1698, John Dryden, Epitaph on the Monument of a Fair Maiden Lady
3. (obsolete) To climb; to mount.
  Quotations
  your Muse soars up to the upper, and transcending that too, takes her fight among the Celestial bodies
  1655, James Howell, “To Sir Tho. Haw.”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume (please specify the page), London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […]