TEMPERAMENT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does temperament mean? 

• TEMPERAMENT (noun)
  The noun TEMPERAMENT has 3 senses:

1. your usual mood

2. excessive emotionalism or irritability and excitability (especially when displayed openly)

3. an adjustment of the intervals (as in tuning a keyboard instrument) so that the scale can be used to play in different keys

  Familiarity information: TEMPERAMENT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TEMPERAMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Your usual mood

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

disposition; temperament

Context example:

he has a happy disposition

Hypernyms ("temperament" is a kind of...):

nature (the complex of emotional and intellectual attributes that determine a person's characteristic actions and reactions)

Meronyms (parts of "temperament"):

cheer; cheerfulness; sunniness; sunshine (the quality of being cheerful and dispelling gloom)

uncheerfulness (not conducive to cheer or good spirits)

Attribute:

willing (disposed or inclined toward)

unwilling (not disposed or inclined toward)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "temperament"):

agreeability; agreeableness (a temperamental disposition to be agreeable)

gourmandism (the disposition and habits of a gourmand)

epicurism (the disposition and habits of an epicure)

pessimism (a general disposition to look on the dark side and to expect the worst in all things)

optimism (a general disposition to expect the best in all things)

discomposure (a temperament that is perturbed and lacking in composure)

calm; calmness; composure; equanimity (steadiness of mind under stress)

unfriendliness (an unfriendly disposition)

unsociability; unsociableness (an unsociable disposition; avoiding friendship or companionship)

friendliness (a friendly disposition)

involuntariness; unwillingness (the trait of being unwilling)

willingness (cheerful compliance)

disagreeableness (an ill-tempered and offensive disposition)

ill nature (a disagreeable, irritable, or malevolent disposition)

good nature (a cheerful, obliging disposition)

restrictiveness; unpermissiveness (a lack of permissiveness or indulgence and a tendency to confine behavior within certain specified limits)

permissiveness; tolerance (a disposition to allow freedom of choice and behavior)

perfectionism (a disposition to feel that anything less than perfect is unacceptable)

blood (temperament or disposition)

moodiness (having temperamental and changeable moods)

esprit de corps; morale; team spirit (the spirit of a group that makes the members want the group to succeed)

nervousness (a sensitive or highly strung temperament)

heart; spirit (an inclination or tendency of a certain kind)

bloodiness; bloodthirstiness (a disposition to shed blood)

animalism; physicality (preoccupation with satisfaction of physical drives and appetites)

aloneness; loneliness; lonesomeness; solitariness (a disposition toward being alone)

Derivation:

temperamental (relating to or caused by temperament)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Excessive emotionalism or irritability and excitability (especially when displayed openly)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("temperament" is a kind of...):

emotionalism; emotionality (emotional nature or quality)

Derivation:

temperamental (subject to sharply varying moods)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An adjustment of the intervals (as in tuning a keyboard instrument) so that the scale can be used to play in different keys

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("temperament" is a kind of...):

adjustment; readjustment; registration (the act of adjusting something to match a standard)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "temperament"):

equal temperament (the division of the scale based on an octave that is divided into twelve exactly equal semitones)

 Context examples 

"After all, you have but the wisdom of your temperament, and the wisdom of my temperament is just as unimpeachable as yours."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Mr. Soames was a tall, spare man, of a nervous and excitable temperament.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Duroc breed is also one of the largest sized breeds in use in biomedical research but its size and temperament make it a less popular choice in research.

(Duroc Pig, NCI Thesaurus)

What is best suited to a person of Mr. Micawber's peculiar temperament is, I am convinced, a certainty.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The status of one's general temperament and outlook on life.

(Emotional Well-being, NCI Thesaurus)

But for the trained reasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I presume that the sanguine temperament itself and the disturbing influence end in a mentally-accomplished finish; a possibly dangerous man, probably dangerous if unselfish.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Anne, judging from her own temperament, would have deemed such a domestic hurricane a bad restorative of the nerves, which Louisa's illness must have so greatly shaken.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

He is also the one among us who is endowed with that Celtic temperament which would make him sensitive to such impressions.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Rachel—who is a very good girl, but of an excitable Welsh temperament—had a sharp touch of brain-fever, and goes about the house now—or did until yesterday—like a black-eyed shadow of her former self.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)