Crossword clues for temperament
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Temperament \Tem"per*a*ment\, n. [L. temperamentum a mixing in due proportion, proper measure, temperament: cf. F. temp['e]rament. See Temper, v. t.]
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Internal constitution; state with respect to the relative proportion of different qualities, or constituent parts.
The common law . . . has reduced the kingdom to its just state and temperament.
--Sir M. Hale. -
Due mixture of qualities; a condition brought about by mutual compromises or concessions. [Obs.]
However, I forejudge not any probable expedient, any temperament that can be found in things of this nature, so disputable on their side.
--Milton. -
The act of tempering or modifying; adjustment, as of clashing rules, interests, passions, or the like; also, the means by which such adjustment is effected.
Wholesome temperaments of the rashness of popular assemblies.
--Sir J. Mackintosh. -
Condition with regard to heat or cold; temperature. [Obs.]
Bodies are denominated ``hot'' and ``cold'' in proportion to the present temperament of that part of our body to which they are applied.
--Locke. (Mus.) A system of compromises in the tuning of organs, pianofortes, and the like, whereby the tones generated with the vibrations of a ground tone are mutually modified and in part canceled, until their number reduced to the actual practicable scale of twelve tones to the octave. This scale, although in so far artificial, is yet closely suggestive of its origin in nature, and this system of tuning, although not mathematically true, yet satisfies the ear, while it has the convenience that the same twelve fixed tones answer for every key or scale, C[sharp] becoming identical with D[flat], and so on.
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(Physiol.) The peculiar physical and mental character of an individual, in olden times erroneously supposed to be due to individual variation in the relations and proportions of the constituent parts of the body, especially of the fluids, as the bile, blood, lymph, etc. Hence the phrases, bilious or choleric temperament, sanguine temperament, etc., implying a predominance of one of these fluids and a corresponding influence on the temperament.
Equal temperament (Mus.), that in which the variations from mathematically true pitch are distributed among all the keys alike.
Unequal temperament (Mus.), that in which the variations are thrown into the keys least used.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., "proportioned mixture of elements," from Latin temperamentum "proper mixture, a mixing in due proportion," from temperare "to mix" (see temper (v.)). In medieval theory, it meant a combination of qualities (hot, cold, moist, dry) that determined the nature of an organism; thus also "a combination of the four humors (sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, and melancholic) that made up a person's characteristic disposition." General sense of "habit of mind, natural disposition" is from 1821.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context obsolete English) A moderate and proportionable mixture of elements or ingredients in a compound; the condition in which elements are mixed in their proper proportions. 2 (context obsolete English) Any state or condition as determined by the proportion of its ingredients or the manner in which they are mixed; consistence, composition; mixture. 3 a person's normal manner of thinking, behaving or reacting 4 a tendency to become irritable or angry 5 (context music English) the altering of certain intervals from their correct values in order to improve the moving from key to key
WordNet
n. your usual mood; "he has a happy disposition" [syn: disposition]
excessive emotionalism or irritability and excitability (especially when displayed openly)
an adjustment of the intervals (as in tuning a keyboard instrument) so that the scale can be used to play in different keys
Wikipedia
In psychology, temperament refers to those aspects of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learned. A great many classificatory schemes for temperament have been developed; none, though, has achieved general consensus in academia.
Historically, the concept of temperament was part of the theory of the four humors, with their corresponding four temperaments. The historical concept played an identifiable part in pre-modern psychology, and was explored by philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Hermann Lotze. David W. Keirsey also drew upon the early models of temperament when developing the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. More recently, scientists seeking evidence of a biological basis of personality have further examined the relationship between temperament and character (defined in this context as developmental aspects of personality). However, biological correlations have proven hard to confirm.
Usage examples of "temperament".
Persons of a lymphatic or bilious temperament often find that coffee disagrees with them, aggravating their troubles and causing biliousness, constipation, and headache, while tea proves agreeable and beneficial.
Is it really my apolitical temperament that makes me keep my distance from the intersexual rights movement?
Compared to the stormy Baptist, he had seemed the gentle Rabbi, the soft-spoken Teacher, generally meek in temperament, and not given to such violent emotion as now apparently raged within.
In Apaecides the whole aspect betokened the fervor and passion of his temperament, and the intellectual portion of his nature seemed, by the wild fire of the eyes, the great breadth of the temples when compared with the height of the brow, the trembling restlessness of the lips, to be swayed and tyrannized over by the imaginative and ideal.
But their opiates affect a race addicted to physical repose, to sensuous enjoyment rather than to sensual excitement, and to lucid intellectual contemplation, with a sense of serene delight as supremely delicious to their temperament as the dreamy illusions of haschisch to the Turk, the fierce frenzy of bhang to the Malay, or the wild excitement of brandy or Geneva to the races of Northern Europe.
But the most irritating of girl--men is assuredly the Parisian and the boulevardier, in whom the appearance of intelligence is more marked and who combines in himself all the attractions and all the faults of those charming creatures in an exaggerated degree in virtue of his masculine temperament.
I was perfectly idle, and with the temperament which nature and habit had given me, was it likely that I could feast my eyes constantly upon such a charming object without falling desperately in love?
Her logic was better than that of Cicero in his Tusculan Disputations, but she admitted that such lasting felicity could exist only between two beings who lived together, and loved each other with constant affection, healthy in mind and in body, enlightened, sufficiently rich, similar in tastes, in disposition, and in temperament.
The two men were primarily of so different a temperament, that they apparently could not long agree even on subjects on which they were most in accord.
The thought that our embraces would have no dangerous result had put Pauline at her ease, and she have reins to her ardent temperament, while I did valiant service, till at last we were exhausted and the last sacrifice was not entirely consummated.
It fitted his moods and temperaments like an old leather glove, calming him during troubled times, energizing him when weariness threatened to clog his brain, and gently stroking him when the depressions struck.
It is an artistic, creative, and aesthetic temperament, beautiful in conception and grand in expression, yet its sensitiveness is enfeebling, and its crowning excellence, when betrayed by the propensities, trails in defilement.
Matching wits with a fatuous fribble of uncertain temperament could only hurt Harriet.
The volatile temperament of the French frontiersmen bubbled over with enthusiasm at the first hint of something new, and revolutionary in which they might be expected to take part.
Gereth had long ago generalized the truth that the temperament of the frump is amply consistent with a certain usual prettiness.