Standard Lemma guide

phlegmatic

adj · noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /flɛɡˈmætɪk/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ætɪk
  • CMU ARPABET: F L EH0 G M AE1 T IH0 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Not easily excited to action or passion; calm; sluggish.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 2013, A.O. Scott, “How It Looks to Think: Watch Her,” Rev. of Hannah Arendt, dir. by Margarethe von Trotta, New York Times 29 May 2013: C1. Print. Their friendship (immortalized in a splendid volume of letters that has clearly served as one of Ms. von Trotta's sources) is a fascinating study in cultural and temperamental contrast, an impulsive and witty American paired with a steady, phlegmatic German.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: apathetic, cold-blooded, phlegmish, unflappable, stoic, adiaphroistic, apathistical, blasé, blithe, deaf, cool, shiftless, dispassionate, dull, enervated, gallionic, halfhearted, heartless, impassive, ineffervescible, insouciant, indifferent, insensible, jaded, languid, languorous, Laodicean, lethargic, listless, lackadaisical, lotophagous, lukewarm, meh, mopey, nonchalant, nonplussed, otiose, phlegmatic, pococurante, spiritless, supine, tepid, torpid, torpedinous, unaroused, uncaring, unconcerned, unenthusiastic, unimpressible, uninterested, unlively, unmoved, untouched, unzealous, world-weary, calm, steady, collected, composed, cool-headed, equable, equanimous, equanimitable, even-keeled, even-minded, even-tempered, imperturbable, laid-back, level-headed, mellow, pacate, pacific, peaceable, peaceful, placid, quiescent, quiet, relaxed, roolie, sedate, serene, still, tranquil, unexcited, unfazed, unflustered, unperturbable, unruffable, unruffled, untumultuous

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Generating, causing, or full of phlegm.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: phlegmish, phlegmy
  • phlegmatic humors
  • a phlegmatic constitution

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: phlegmatous, phlegmish, phlegmy

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

One who has a phlegmatic disposition.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

showing little emotion

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a phlegmatic...and certainly undemonstrative man

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: phlegmatical

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English fleumatik, flewmatik, flematik, fleumatyke, flewmatyk, from Old French fleumatique, from Latin phlegmaticus, from Ancient Greek φλεγματικός (phlegmatikós), from φλέγμα (phlégma), referring to the humour which ancient Hippocratic and later Galenic medicine associated with mildness, coldness, sluggishness, and indifference. Spelling later altered to resemble the word's Latin and Greek roots, with modern pronunciation following this new spelling.

Across languages

Translations

45 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: муден (muden) — not easily excited to action
  • Bulgarian: флегматичен (flegmatičen) — not easily excited to action
  • Catalan: flegmàtic — not easily excited to action
  • Czech: flegmatický — not easily excited to action
  • Danish: flegmatisk — not easily excited to action
  • Dutch: flegmatisch — not easily excited to action
  • Esperanto: flegma — not easily excited to action
  • Finnish: flegmaattinen — not easily excited to action
  • French: flegmatique — not easily excited to action
  • Galician: flegmático — not easily excited to action
  • Galician: bacento — not easily excited to action
  • German: phlegmatisch — not easily excited to action
  • Greek: φλεγματικός (flegmatikós) — not easily excited to action
  • Hebrew: פלגמטי (flegmati) — not easily excited to action
  • Interlingua: phlegmatic — not easily excited to action
  • Irish: fuarchúiseach — not easily excited to action
  • Italian: flemmatico — not easily excited to action
  • Macedonian: рамно́душен (ramnódušen) — not easily excited to action
  • Macedonian: флегма́тичен (flegmátičen) — not easily excited to action
  • Polish: flegmatyczny — not easily excited to action
  • Portuguese: fleumático — not easily excited to action
  • Russian: флегмати́ческий (flegmatíčeskij) — not easily excited to action
  • Russian: флегмати́чный (flegmatíčnyj) — not easily excited to action
  • Spanish: flemático — not easily excited to action
  • Spanish: flegmático (disused) — not easily excited to action
  • Swedish: flegmatisk — not easily excited to action
  • Swedish: sävlig — not easily excited to action
  • Tibetan: ངང་རྒྱུད་དལ་པོ (ngang rgyud dal po) — not easily excited to action
  • Tibetan: ཉོབ་ཏོ (nyob to) — not easily excited to action
  • Ukrainian: флегмати́чний (flehmatýčnyj) — not easily excited to action
  • Ukrainian: флегматик (flehmatyk) — not easily excited to action
  • Bulgarian: слузест (sluzest) — generating, causing, or full of phlegm
  • Catalan: flegmàtic — generating, causing, or full of phlegm
  • German: phlegmatisch — generating, causing, or full of phlegm
  • Macedonian: слу́зест (slúzest) — generating, causing, or full of phlegm
  • Spanish: flemático — generating, causing, or full of phlegm
  • Spanish: flegmático (disused) — generating, causing, or full of phlegm
  • Swedish: flegmatisk — generating, causing, or full of phlegm
  • Turkish: balgamlı — generating, causing, or full of phlegm
  • Romanian: apos — watery
  • Romanian: apoasa — watery
  • Romanian: aposi — watery
  • Romanian: apoase — watery
  • Finnish: flegmaatikko — person
  • Swedish: flegmatiker — person