Standard Lemma guide

temper

noun · verb · 31 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.

  • UK: /ˈtɛmpə/
  • US: /ˈtɛmpɚ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛmpə(ɹ)
  • CMU ARPABET: T EH1 M P ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A general tendency or orientation towards a certain type of mood, a volatile state; a habitual way of thinking, behaving or reacting.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • to have a good, bad, or calm temper

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

State of mind; mood.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A tendency to become angry.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • Mind your hasty temper!
  • He has quite a temper when dealing with salespeople.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Anger; a fit of anger.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • an outburst of temper
  • When I heard about it I got myself into a terrible temper.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • to keep one's temper; to lose one's temper; to recover one's temper

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

Constitution of body; the mixture or relative proportion of the four humours: blood, choler, phlegm, and melancholy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

Middle state or course; mean; medium.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

The state of any compound substance which results from the mixture of various ingredients; due mixture of different qualities.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • the temper of mortar

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

The heat treatment to which a metal or other material has been subjected; a material that has undergone a particular heat treatment.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

The state of a metal or other substance, especially as to its hardness, produced by some process of heating or cooling.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • the temper of iron or steel

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

noun

Meaning 11

Milk of lime, or other substance, employed in the process formerly used to clarify sugar.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, historical, uncountable

Qualifier: sugar manufacture

Examples

  • 1803, John Browne Cutting, “A Succinct History of Jamaica” in Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, pp. xciv-xcv, All cane juice is liable to rapid fermentation. As soon, therefore, as the clarifier is filled, the fire is lighted, and the temper (white lime of Bristol) is stirred into it. The alkali of the lime having neutralized its superabundant acid, a part of it becomes the basis of the sugar.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

12

noun

Meaning 12

A non-plastic material, such as sand, added to clay to prevent shrinkage and cracking during drying or firing; tempering.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Qualifier: pottery

Topics: architecture

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

13

verb

Meaning 13

To moderate or control.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Temper your language around children.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: season

Antonyms: none provided

14

verb

Meaning 14

To strengthen or toughen a material, especially metal, by heat treatment; anneal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

15

verb

Meaning 15

To adjust the temperature of an ingredient (e.g. eggs or chocolate) gradually so that it remains smooth and pleasing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: cooking, food, lifestyle

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

16

verb

Meaning 16

To sauté spices in ghee or oil to release essential oils for flavouring a dish in South Asian cuisine.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

17

verb

Meaning 17

To mix clay, plaster or mortar with water to obtain the proper consistency.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

18

verb

Meaning 18

To adjust, as the mathematical scale to the actual scale, or to that in actual use.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

19

verb

Meaning 19

To govern; to manage.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Latinism, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

20

verb

Meaning 20

To combine in due proportions; to constitute; to compose.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

21

verb

Meaning 21

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic

Examples

  • Puritan austerity was so tempered by Dutch indifference, that mercy itself could not have dictated a milder system.
  • 1682 (first performance), Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv'd Woman! lovely woman! nature made thee / To temper man: we had been brutes without you.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

22

verb

Meaning 22

To fit together; to adjust; to accommodate.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

23

noun

Meaning 23

a disposition to exhibit uncontrolled anger

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • his temper was well known to all his employees

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: biliousness, irritability, peevishness, pettishness, snappishness, surliness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: ill nature

Narrower terms: querulousness

24

noun

Meaning 24

the elasticity and hardness of a metal object; its ability to absorb considerable energy before cracking

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: toughness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: elasticity, snap

25

noun

Meaning 25

a sudden outburst of anger

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • his temper sparked like damp firewood

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pique, irritation

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: annoyance, chafe, vexation

26

noun

Meaning 26

a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • whether he praised or cursed me depended on his temper at the time
  • he was in a bad humor

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: mood, humor, humour

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: feeling

Narrower terms: peeve, sulk, sulkiness, good humor, good humour, good temper, amiability, ill humor, ill humour, distemper

27

verb

Meaning 27

restrain

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: chasten, moderate

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: change, alter, modify

28

verb

Meaning 28

make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding something else; moderate

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • she tempered her criticism

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: season, mollify

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: weaken

29

verb

Meaning 29

adjust the pitch (of pianos)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: adjust, set, correct

30

verb

Meaning 30

harden by reheating and cooling in oil

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • temper steel

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: harden

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: modify

31

verb

Meaning 31

bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a process of gradually heating and cooling

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • temper glass

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: anneal, normalize

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: harden, indurate

History

Etymology

From Middle English temperen, tempren, from Old English ġetemprian, temprian, borrowed from Latin temperō (“(transitive) to divide or proportion duly, to moderate, to regulate; (intransitive) to be moderate, temperate”), from tempus (“time, fit season”). Compare also French tempérer. Doublet of tamper. See temporal.

Across languages

Translations

144 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: բնավորություն (bnavorutʻyun) — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Azerbaijani: xasiyyət — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Azerbaijani: qılıq — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Bulgarian: характер (harakter) — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Bulgarian: нрав (nrav) — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Catalan: humor — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Chinese Mandarin: 脾氣 /脾气 (píqi, píqì) — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Danish: temperament — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Esperanto: karaktero — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Finnish: luonne — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Finnish: tuuli — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Finnish: luonteenlaatu — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Finnish: temperamentti — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • French: caractère — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • French: tempérament — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Galician: tempero — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Galician: temperamento — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Galician: xenio — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • German: Gereiztheit — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • German: Laune — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • German: Temperament — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Hungarian: vérmérséklet — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Hungarian: temperamentum — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Italian: carattere — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Italian: temperamento — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Portuguese: temperamento — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Romanian: caracter — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Romanian: fire — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Russian: нрав (nrav) — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Russian: хара́ктер (xarákter) — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Russian: темпера́мент (temperáment) — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Shor: қылық (qılıq) — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Spanish: temperamento — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Spanish: carácter — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Swedish: temperament — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Welsh: tymer — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Zulu: inhliziyo — tendency to be of a certain type of mood
  • Azerbaijani: əhval-ruhiyyə — state of mind
  • Bulgarian: настрое́ние (nastroénie) — state of mind
  • Chinese Mandarin: 心情 (xīnqíng) — state of mind
  • Chinese Mandarin: 心境 (xīnjìng) — state of mind
  • Danish: gemyt — state of mind
  • Danish: natur — state of mind
  • Danish: sind — state of mind
  • Dutch: karakter — state of mind
  • Dutch: gemoed — state of mind
  • Esperanto: humoro — state of mind
  • Finnish: mielenlaatu — state of mind
  • Finnish: mieliala — state of mind
  • Finnish: mielentila — state of mind
  • French: humeur — state of mind
  • French: état d'esprit — state of mind
  • German: Laune — state of mind
  • Hebrew: מֶזֶג (mézeg) — state of mind
  • Hungarian: kedv — state of mind
  • Portuguese: temperamento — state of mind
  • Romanian: temperament — state of mind
  • Romanian: stare — state of mind
  • Romanian: dispoziție — state of mind
  • Russian: настрое́ние (nastrojénije) — state of mind
  • Russian: настро́й (nastrój) — state of mind
  • Serbo-Croatian: ћуд (ćud) — state of mind
  • Hungarian: béketűrés — calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure
  • Hungarian: higgadtság — calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure
  • Hungarian: sodra — calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure
  • Spanish: temple — calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure
  • Bulgarian: отгряване (otgrjavane) — heat treatment
  • Bulgarian: закаляване (zakaljavane) — heat treatment
  • Catalan: tremp — heat treatment
  • Chinese Mandarin: 回火 (huíhuǒ) — heat treatment
  • Dutch: uitharden — heat treatment
  • Esperanto: hardo — heat treatment
  • Finnish: päästäminen — heat treatment
  • Finnish: karkaisu — heat treatment
  • French: revenu — heat treatment
  • German: Anlassen — heat treatment
  • German: Ausheizen — heat treatment
  • Portuguese: têmpera — heat treatment
  • Romanian: revenire — heat treatment
  • Spanish: revenido — heat treatment
  • Tagalog: subo — heat treatment
  • Bulgarian: смекчавам (smekčavam) — to moderate or control
  • Catalan: temperar — to moderate or control
  • Chinese Mandarin: 緩和 /缓和 (huǎnhé) — to moderate or control
  • Dutch: matigen — to moderate or control
  • Esperanto: moderigi — to moderate or control
  • Esperanto: mildigi — to moderate or control
  • Finnish: hillitä — to moderate or control
  • Finnish: hallita — to moderate or control
  • Galician: temperar — to moderate or control
  • Galician: regular — to moderate or control
  • German: mäßigen — to moderate or control
  • Kazakh: жұмсарту (jūmsartu) — to moderate or control
  • Kazakh: басу (basu) — to moderate or control
  • Kazakh: бәсеңдету (bäseñdetu) — to moderate or control
  • Māori: whakamauru — to moderate or control
  • Old English: metegian — to moderate or control
  • Portuguese: temperar — to moderate or control
  • Portuguese: moderar — to moderate or control
  • Portuguese: regular — to moderate or control
  • Portuguese: controlar — to moderate or control
  • Romanian: tempera — to moderate or control
  • Romanian: modera — to moderate or control
  • Romanian: regula — to moderate or control
  • Romanian: astâmpăra — to moderate or control
  • Russian: умеря́ть (umerjátʹ) — to moderate or control
  • Russian: уме́рить (uméritʹ) — to moderate or control
  • Spanish: templar — to moderate or control
  • Spanish: temperar — to moderate or control
  • Spanish: atemperar — to moderate or control
  • Swedish: mildra — to moderate or control
  • Swedish: dämpa — to moderate or control
  • Bulgarian: отгрявам (otgrjavam) — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Bulgarian: закалявам (zakaljavam) — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Chinese Mandarin: 回火 (huíhuǒ) — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Chinese Mandarin: 淬硬 — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Esperanto: hardi — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Finnish: päästää — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Finnish: karkaista — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • French: revenir — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Galician: temperar — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Hebrew: לִבֵּן (libén) — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Japanese: 淬ぐ, 焠ぐ (niragu) — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Māori: whakapūioio — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Māori: tākakā — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Portuguese: temperar — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Romanian: reveni — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Romanian: căli — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Russian: закаля́ть (zakaljátʹ) — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Russian: закали́ть (zakalítʹ) — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Serbo-Croatian: prekaliti — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Spanish: revenir — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Swedish: glödga — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Swedish: aducera — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Tagalog: subuhan — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Vietnamese: tôi — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Vietnamese: luyện — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Vietnamese: tôi luyện — to strengthen or toughen by heat treatment
  • Finnish: freesata — to sauté spices
  • Chinese Mandarin: 揉和 — to mix with water to obtain proper consistency
  • Finnish: sekoittaa — to mix with water to obtain proper consistency
  • Romanian: amesteca — to mix with water to obtain proper consistency
  • Bulgarian: модулирам (moduliram) — music: to adjust a scale
  • Finnish: temperoida — music: to adjust a scale
Real reading context

temper in complete knowledge articles

Cured Duck Technology & inventions · Developing · 13 uses Dragon's Oath Literature & books · Developing · 2 uses