What does temper mean?
Definitions for temper
ˈtɛm pərtem·per
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word temper.
Princeton's WordNet
pique, temper, irritationnoun
a sudden outburst of anger
"his temper sparked like damp firewood"
temper, mood, humor, humournoun
a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling
"whether he praised or cursed me depended on his temper at the time"; "he was in a bad humor"
temper, biliousness, irritability, peevishness, pettishness, snappishness, surlinessnoun
a disposition to exhibit uncontrolled anger
"his temper was well known to all his employees"
temper, toughnessverb
the elasticity and hardness of a metal object; its ability to absorb considerable energy before cracking
anneal, temper, normalizeverb
bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a process of gradually heating and cooling
"temper glass"
temper, hardenverb
harden by reheating and cooling in oil
"temper steel"
temperverb
adjust the pitch (of pianos)
temper, season, mollifyverb
make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding something else; moderate
"she tempered her criticism"
chasten, moderate, temperverb
restrain
Wiktionary
tempernoun
A tendency to be of a certain type of mood.
tempernoun
State of mind.
tempernoun
The heat treatment to which a metal or other material has been subjected; a material that has undergone a particular heat treatment.
temperverb
To moderate or control.
Temper your language around children.
temperverb
To heat-treat a material, especially metal or chocolate.
Next, temper Tempering is a heat treatment technique applied to metals, alloys, and glass to achieve greater toughness by increasing the strength of materials and/or ductility. Tempering is performed by a controlled reheating of the work piece to a temperature below its lower eutectic critical temperature..
temperverb
To mix clay, plaster or mortar with water to obtain the proper consistency
Etymology: From temperen, from *, from temperare, from tempus; see temporal.
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Tempernoun
Etymology: from the verb.
Nothing better proveth the excellency of this soil and temper than the abundant growing of the palm trees. Walter Raleigh.
Health itself is but a kind of temper, gotten and preserved by a convenient mixture of contrarieties. Arbuthnot.
If the estates of some bishops were exorbitant before the reformation, the present clergy’s wishes reach no further than that some reasonable temper had been used instead of paring them so quick. Jonathan Swift, Miscel.
This body would be increased daily, being supplied from above and below, and having done growing, it would become more dry by degrees, and of a temper of greater consistency and firmness. Thomas Burnet, Theory of the Earth.
Remember with what mild
And gracious temper he both heard, and judg’d,
Without wrath or reviling. John Milton, Par. Lost, b. x.This will keep their thoughts easy and free, the only temper wherein the mind is capable of receiving new informations. John Locke, on Education.
The brain may devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o’er a cold decree. William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice.
Our hearts,
Of brothers temper, do receive you in
With all kind love. William Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar.Restore yourselves unto your tempers, fathers,
And without perturbation hear me speak. Ben Jonson.Teach me, like thee, in various nature wise,
To fall with dignity, with temper rise. Alexander Pope.Here draw I
A sword, whose temper I intend to stain
With the best blood that I can meet withal. William Shakespeare.Ithuriel with his spear
Touch’d lightly; for no falshood can endure
Touch of cœlestial temper, but returns
Of force to its own likeness: up he starts,
Discover’d, and surpriz’d. John Milton, Par. Lost, b. iv.These needles should have a due temper; for if they are too soft, the force exerted to carry them through the flesh will bend them; if they are too brittle they snap. Samuel Sharp.
To Temperverb
Etymology: tempero, Lat. temperer, Fr.
I shall temper so
Justice with mercy, as may illustrate most
Them fully satisfy’d, and Thee appease. John Milton.If you could find out but a man
To bear a poison, I would temper it;
That Romeo should upon receipt thereof
Soon sleep in quiet. William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet.Prepare the sixth part of an ephah and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour. Ezek. xlvi. 14.
The good old knight, with a mixture of the father and master of the family, tempered the inquiries after his own affairs with kind questions relating to themselves. Addison.
Th’ uncivil kerns of Ireland are in arms,
And temper clay with blood of Englishmen. William Shakespeare.The potter tempering soft earth, fashioneth every vessel with much labour. Wisd. xv. 7.
Thy sustenance serving to the appetite of the eater, tempered itself to every man’s liking. Wisd. xvi. 21.
These soft fires with kindly heat
Of various influence foment and warm,
Temper or nourish. John Milton.Solon, in his laws to the Athenians, laboured to temper their warlike courages with sweet delights of learning and sciences: so that as much as the one excelled in arms, the other exceeded in knowledge. Edmund Spenser, on Ireland.
With this she wonts to temper angry Jove,
When all the gods he threats with thund’ring dart. Edmund Spenser.Now will I to that old Andronicus,
And temper him with all the art I have. William Shakespeare.Woman! Nature made thee
To temper man: we had been brutes without you. Thomas Otway.The sword
Of Michael from the armoury of God
Was given him temper’d so, that neither keen
Nor solid might resist that edge. John Milton.In the tempering of steel, by holding it but a minute or two longer or lesser in the other competent heat, gives it very differing tempers as to brittleness or toughness. Boyle.
Repeated peals they hear,
And, in a heav’n serene, refulgent arms appear;
Red’ning the skies, and glitt’ring all around,
The temper’d metals clash, and yield a silver sound. Dryd.With which the damned ghosts he governeth,
And furies rules, and Tartare tempereth. Hubberd’s Tale.
ChatGPT
temper
Temper refers to a person's emotional state or mood, often relating to their level of patience, calmness or irritability. It is also used to describe the tendency to become angered or annoyed easily. In materials science, "temper" can also refer to the process of heating and then cooling metal to enhance its strength and toughness.
Webster Dictionary
Temperverb
to mingle in due proportion; to prepare by combining; to modify, as by adding some new element; to qualify, as by an ingredient; hence, to soften; to mollify; to assuage; to soothe; to calm
Temperverb
to fit together; to adjust; to accomodate
Temperverb
to bring to a proper degree of hardness; as, to temper iron or steel
Temperverb
to govern; to manage
Temperverb
to moisten to a proper consistency and stir thoroughly, as clay for making brick, loam for molding, etc
Temperverb
to adjust, as the mathematical scale to the actual scale, or to that in actual use
Tempernoun
the state of any compound substance which results from the mixture of various ingredients; due mixture of different qualities; just combination; as, the temper of mortar
Tempernoun
constitution of body; temperament; in old writers, the mixture or relative proportion of the four humors, blood, choler, phlegm, and melancholy
Tempernoun
disposition of mind; the constitution of the mind, particularly with regard to the passions and affections; as, a calm temper; a hasty temper; a fretful temper
Tempernoun
calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure; as, to keep one's temper
Tempernoun
heat of mind or passion; irritation; proneness to anger; -- in a reproachful sense
Tempernoun
the state of a metal or other substance, especially as to its hardness, produced by some process of heating or cooling; as, the temper of iron or steel
Tempernoun
middle state or course; mean; medium
Tempernoun
milk of lime, or other substance, employed in the process formerly used to clarify sugar
Temperverb
to accord; to agree; to act and think in conformity
Temperverb
to have or get a proper or desired state or quality; to grow soft and pliable
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Temper
tem′pėr, v.t. to mix in due proportion: to modify by blending or mixture: to moderate: to soften: to bring to a proper degree of hardness and elasticity, as steel: to amend or adjust, as a false or imperfect concord.—n. due mixture or balance or different or contrary qualities: state of a metal as to hardness, &c.: constitution of the body: constitutional frame or state of mind, esp. with regard to feelings, disposition, temperament, mood: passion, irritation: calmness or moderation: in sugar-works lime or other substance used to neutralise the acidity of cane-juice.—adjs. Tem′perable, capable of being tempered; Tem′pered, having a certain specified disposition or temper: brought to a certain temper, as steel: (mus.) tuned or adjusted to some mean, or to equal, temperament.—adv. Tem′peredly.—ns. Tem′perer; Tem′pering, the process of giving the required degree of hardness or softness to iron or steel, by heating to redness and cooling in different ways. [L. temperāre, to combine properly, allied to tempus, time.]
The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz
TEMPER
A quality, the loss of which is likely to make a knife blade dull and a woman's tongue sharp.
British National Corpus
Nouns Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'temper' in Nouns Frequency: #2487
Anagrams for temper »
tempre
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of temper in Chaldean Numerology is: 1
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of temper in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5
Examples of temper in a Sentence
It will dampen inflation talk, we would prefer that inflation gets tempered and the Delta variant could temper it. That's not the way we want to temper it, of course.
?Why would anybody know about, you know, private incidents like that? You know, I was generally a nice person, it's just that I had a very bad temper, so unless you were the victim of that temper, why would you know? Just because you happened to know me? That doesn't make any sense.
Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.
I think I should have some more patience, but I think I'm pretty equal opportunity, i will have to get better at holding my tongue and holding my temper.
So of cheerfulness, or a good temper, the more it is spent, the more it remains.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
Translations for temper
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- مزاجArabic
- humor, trempCatalan, Valencian
- gemyt, sind, natur, temperamentDanish
- mäßigen, Ausheizen, Laune, Anlassen, Gereiztheit, TemperamentGerman
- temperamento, temple, templarSpanish
- خویPersian
- hillitä, tuuli, päästää, luonne, päästäminen, lieventää, lämpökäsitellä, mielentila, mielenlaatu, mieliala, luonteenlaatuFinnish
- tempérament, humeur, état d'esprit, recuire, caractère, recuitFrench
- מֶזֶגHebrew
- uitharden, karakter, gemoed, matigenDutch
- usposobieniePolish
- revenire, modera, fire, temperament, amesteca, regula, tempera, dispoziție, reveni, caracter, stare, căliRomanian
- умеря́ть, нрав, настро́й, настрое́ние, уме́рить, закали́ть, закаля́ть, темпера́мент, хара́ктерRussian
- prekaliti, ћудSerbo-Croatian
- mildra, härda, dämpaSwedish
- inhliziyoZulu
Get even more translations for temper »
Translation
Find a translation for the temper definition in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Word of the Day
Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?
Citation
Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"temper." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 2 Oct. 2023. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/temper>.
Discuss these temper definitions with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In