temperature
nounUK /ˈtɛm.p(ə.)ɹə.t͡ʃə/ · CA, US /ˈtɛm.pɚ.(ə)ˌt͡ʃɚ/
Etymology Borrowed from Latin temperātūra (cf. also French température), from the past participle stem of tempero (“to temper”).
7 senses
- 1A measure of cold or heat, often measurable with a thermometer.
- 2An elevated body temperature, as present in many…
- 3A property of macroscopic amounts of matter that serves…
- 4A parameter that controls the degree of randomness of the output.
- 5The general mood.
- 6The state or condition of being tempered or moderated.
- 7The balance of humours in the body, or one's character…
1
A measure of cold or heat, often measurable with a thermometer.
- The boiling temperature of pure water is 100 degrees Celsius.
- The temperature in the room dropped nearly 20 degrees; it went from hot to cold.
3 more examples
- The most accurate way to take your temperature is by sticking a thermometer up your butt.
- Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.2013 May 11, “The climate of Tibet: Pole-land”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8835, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2020, page 80:
- The opposite issue emerges in the summer when students face scorching temperatures with unreliable or nonexistent air conditioning.2018 January 4, Janie Tankard Carnock, “Frigid Baltimore City schools: The racism we haven’t confronted”, in CNN:
2
An elevated body temperature, as present in many illnesses; fever.
- You have a temperature. I think you should stay home today. You’re sick.
- "Aren't you feeling so well this morning?" she asked him anxiously. "Do you think you've got a temperature?"1951, Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time:
3
Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics, Thermodynamics A property of macroscopic amounts of matter that serves to gauge the average intensity of the random actual motions of the individually mobile particulate constituents.
- In consequence, macroscopic amounts of matter in thermal contact with one another tend to be at the same temperature, a fact of sufficient fundamental importance to merit belated designation as the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics.2000 September, Clinton D. Stoner, “Inquiries into the Nature of Free Energy and Entropy in Respect to Biochemical Thermodynamics”, in Entropy, volume 2, number 3, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 106–141:
4
A parameter that controls the degree of randomness of the output.
Machine learning
5
Colloquial, Figuratively The general mood.
- But it is both easier and more accurate to take the industry's true temperature at small private gatherings like a conference organized by the Ziff Davis publishing company in northern California last week.2005 August 20, Seth Schiesel, “Taking the Temperature of the Creative Body”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- [Stephen] Miller's words did not seem designed to lower the temperature.2025 September 13, Edward Luce, “A descent into mutual loathing”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7:
6
Obsolete The state or condition of being tempered or moderated.
7
Archaic The balance of humours in the body, or one's character or outlook as considered determined from this; temperament.
- 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: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
- […]that not only the production of a rational Being was concern'd in it, but that possibly the happy foundation and temperature of his body, perhaps his genius and the very cast of his mind […]1759–1767, [Laurence Sterne], The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume (please specify |volume=I to IX), London: […] T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […]:
1 more example
- Only a strong dose of love will cure / A woman with an angry temperature.1993, James Michie, trans. Ovid, The Art of Love, Book II
- Synonyms
- temperature
- Derived terms
57 terms
absolute temperature, autoignition temperature, biotemperature, body temperature, buying temperature, convective temperature, core temperature, critical temperature, cryotemperature, Curie temperature, distemperature, dry bulb temperature, dry-bulb temperature, equivalent potential temperature, equiviscous temperature, floor temperature challenge, glass transition temperature, high-temperature superconductivity, high-temperature superconductor, humiture, ignition temperature, I have a temperature, IQ of room temperature, kinetic temperature, land skin temperature, light-off temperature, liquid nitrogen temperature, low temperature flexibility, multitemperature, Néel temperature, overtemperature, palaeotemperature, paleotemperature, perceived temperature, potential temperature, room temperature, room-temperature, room-temperature IQ, room temperature IQ, room temperature I.Q., run a temperature, saturation temperature, spike a temperature, standard temperature and pressure, temperatural, temperature coefficient, temperature gun, temperature-humidity index, temperatureless, temperature play, temperaturewise, thermodynamic temperature, transition temperature, virtual temperature, wet bulb temperature, wet-bulb temperature, Wilson's temperature syndrome- Related terms
64 terms
temperature inversion, degrees Fahrenheit, degrees Rankine, degrees Celsius, centigrade, kelvin, cool, cold, fresh, fever, hot, lukewarm, warm, boiling, scalding, incandescent, scorching, scorchio, red-hot, molten, egelid, balmy, toasty, tepid, algid, bleak, boreal, brisk, brumal, chill, chilly, crisp, drafty, gelid, inclement, nesh, nippy, parky, shivering, sleety, taters, wintry, arctic, baltic, benumbed, bitter cold, brass monkeys, freezing, frigid, frosty, frore, frozen, glacial, icy, polar, snowy, extreme, high, moderate, mild, low, absolute, weather, energy- Hypernyms
- physical property
- Hyponyms
- apparent temperature, closure temperature, color temperature, equicohesive temperature, Hagedorn temperature, Planck temperature, planetary equilibrium temperature