DictionaryAI

temperature

noun
TEM-pur-uh-chur/ˈtɛm.pəɹˌt͡ʃɚ/UKTEM-pruh-chuh/ˈtɛmp(ə)ɹət͡ʃə(ɹ)/

Pluraltemperatures

6 meanings of temperature

Practice

  1. 1
    hot or coldnouncountable or uncountable
    A measure of how hot or cold something is, usually read with a thermometer; in physics, it reflects the average energy of the random motion of its particles.

    Forecasters expect the temperature to climb above ninety degrees this weekend.

    The oven reaches its target temperature in about ten minutes.

    UsageTemperatures are usually high or low, and they rise or drop. For heat in general: a rise in temperature.

  2. 2
    fevernounusually singular
    An abnormally high body heat, as occurs in many illnesses; a fever.

    By midnight he was running a temperature of nearly 102 degrees.

    The nurse noted that the patient still had a temperature after two days of treatment.

    UsageHave, get or run a temperature means have a fever. Take someone's temperature just means measure it.

    Similarfever

    Note

    Here the verb does the work. After have, get or run, a temperature means a fever: you have a temperature, or, in Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time (1951), "Do you think you've got a temperature?"

  3. 3
    moodnounfigurativelyusually singular
    The general mood or feeling of a group or situation.

    The campaign closely watched the political temperature ahead of the vote.

    By the second hour, the temperature of the debate had cooled considerably.

    UsageMostly in set phrases: take the temperature of a group, lower or raise the temperature of a debate.

    Similarmood, climate, atmosphere, tone

    Note

    Writers take the temperature of an industry or a crowd, as Seth Schiesel did in 2005. They also judge whether words will lower the temperature, as Edward Luce did in FT Weekend in 2025. A high temperature means tension or anger. Lowering it means calming a quarrel down.

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    characternounarchaiccountable
    The balance of bodily humors, or the character and outlook thought to be determined by that balance; temperament.
    Only a strong dose of love will cure / A woman with an angry temperature.
    1993, James Michie, trans. Ovid
    Our intemperence it is that pulls so many several incurable diseases on our heads, that hastens old age, perverts our temperature, and brings upon us sudden death.
    1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy
    Note

    Humoral medicine's word for the mix of humors once thought to fix a person's constitution and character. Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy warns that intemperance "perverts our temperature." Sterne's Tristram Shandy links the temperature of the body to "the very cast of his mind." James Michie's 1993 translation of Ovid uses it for a woman's angry humor. Today, temperament does this job.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Temperature historically denoted the bodily balance of humors thought to determine constitution and character. en.wiktionary.org
    • Robert Burton wrote The Anatomy of Melancholy, which says that intemperance “perverts our temperature.” gutenberg.org
    • Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy associates bodily temperature with mental character; the passage belongs to Tristram's first-person narration. gutenberg.org
    • James Michie's translation of Ovid containing this usage dates to 1993. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 5
    nounobsoleteuncountable
    The condition of having been made gentler or brought into balance.
    Note

    This meaning stays closest to the verb behind the word: the state of being tempered, or kept from extremes. It belongs to early modern writing, so readers may meet it in older prose praising someone's temperature, meaning their restraint. A modern reader would hear heat instead, so in present-day writing use moderation.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Temperature derives ultimately from a verb meaning to temper. en.wiktionary.org
    • The historical meaning includes moderation and restraint from excessive passion. gutenberg.org
    • The moderation sense was available in early modern English. en.wikisource.org
    • Older writing can praise someone's temperature in the sense of moderation or restraint. gutenberg.org
    • Early modern prose uses temperature approvingly for a balanced disposition or conduct. gutenberg.org
  3. 6
    noun
    A setting that controls how random the output of a model is.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of temperature apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Latin temperatura, formed on the past participle stem of tempero ("I temper"), is the source English borrowed; French has a matching température.