the combination of mental, physical, and emotional traits of a person; natural predisposition.
unusual personal attitude or nature as manifested by peculiarities of feeling, temper, action, etc., often with a disinclination to submit to conventional rules or restraints.
(old physiology) the combination of the four cardinal humors, the relative proportions of which were supposed to determine physical and mental constitution.
Music.
the tuning of a keyboard instrument, as the piano, organ, or harpsichord, so that the instrument may be played in all keys without further tuning.
a particular system of doing this.
Archaic. an act of tempering or moderating.
Archaic. climate.
Origin of temperament
1375–1425; late Middle English <Latin temperāmentum due mixture, equivalent to temperā(re) to mix properly + -mentum-ment
ABA evaluators found that Barrett’s integrity, judicial temperament and academic charter “met the very high standards for appointment to the Supreme Court,” said Randall Noel, a Memphis attorney who led the review.
Barrett confirmation hearing day four: ‘We have the votes,’ McConnell says of nomination|Seung Min Kim, Donna Cassata, Karoun Demirjian|October 15, 2020|Washington Post
In those cases, kids were able to connect with adults and peers throughout childhood regardless of temperament.
‘The Origins of You’ explores how kids develop into their adult selves|Bruce Bower|September 16, 2020|Science News
Western societies, Mead concluded, had learned over time to associate specific temperaments with the social roles into which they placed the biological sexes.
Gender Is What You Make of It - Issue 88: Love & Sex|Charles King|August 5, 2020|Nautilus
Maybe just describe some either actions or temperament or handling of a term of a Fed chair in medium-recent history — last four or five, six decades, whatever — that you just particularly admire.
Fed Up (Ep. 390)|Stephen J. Dubner|September 26, 2019|Freakonomics
He throws every fiber of his being into each performance, altering his posture, elocution, temperament, and more.
Oscars 2015: The Daily Beast’s Picks, From Scarlett Johansson to ‘Boyhood’|Marlow Stern|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
She was a little fairy and she flew around and she had a temperament.
The ‘Maleficent’ Screenwriter Also Wrote ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’|Kevin Fallon|June 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He let himself become, at some point, the creature of his own temperament.
What Should Be Your Favorite Books?|Benjamin Lytal|February 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He took this to be just her temperament and says it finally led Advanced Periodontics to let her go.
What Pushed Miriam Carey to a Capitol Hill Tragedy?|Michael Daly|October 4, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But it was Berlin that was on the march—"the blood is there, and the hope, and the moody, lustful Wagnerian temperament."
Before the Fall: What Did the World Look Like in 1913?|Jacob Heilbrunn|June 9, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The temperament and theory described as pessimism are European.
Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. (of 3)|Charles Eliot
Byron was well fitted by birth and temperament to be the spokesman of this fierce discontent.
From Chaucer to Tennyson|Henry A. Beers
A friend of mine has three boys of widely opposite character and temperament.
The Power of Womanhood, or Mothers and Sons|Ellice Hopkins
The use of high pitch is due to habit or temperament, but may be overcome through judicious practice.
Talks on Talking|Grenville Kleiser
He may become foolish in opposite ways, especially if he is also an artist and has strength of temperament.
Musical Criticisms|Arthur Johnstone
British Dictionary definitions for temperament
temperament
/ (ˈtɛmpərəmənt, -prəmənt) /
noun
an individual's character, disposition, and tendencies as revealed in his reactions
excitability, moodiness, or anger, esp when displayed openlyan actress with temperament
the characteristic way an individual behaves, esp towards other peopleSee also character, personality
an adjustment made to the frequency differences between notes on a keyboard instrument to allow modulation to other keys
any of several systems of such adjustment, such as just temperament, a system not practically possible on keyboard instruments, mean-tone temperament, a system giving an approximation to natural tuning, and equal temperament, the system commonly used in keyboard instruments, giving a scale based on an octave divided into twelve exactly equal semitonesSee also just intonation
obsoletethe characteristic way an individual behaves, viewed as the result of the influence of the four humours (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile)
archaiccompromise or adjustment
an obsolete word for temperature
Word Origin for temperament
C15: from Latin temperāmentum a mixing in proportion, from temperāre to temper