temperate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin temperatus, past participle of temperare (“moderate, forbear, combine properly”). See temper.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈtɛmpəɹət/
  • audio (US)(file)
  • Hyphenation: temp‧pe‧rate

Adjective

temperate (comparative more temperate, superlative most temperate)

  1. Moderate; not excessive
    temperate heat
    a temperate climate.
    • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page vii
      Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.
    • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
      She is not hot, but temperate as the morn.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)
      That sober freedom out of which there springs Our loyal passion for our temperate kings.
  2. Moderate in the indulgence of the natural appetites or passions
    temperate in eating and drinking.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
      Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy.
    • 1915, George A. Birmingham, “chapter I”, in Gossamer (Project Gutenberg; EBook #24394), London: Methuen & Co., published 8 January 2013 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 558189256:
      I am a temperate man and have made it a rule not to drink before luncheon. But I was so much ashamed of my first feeling about Gorman that I thought it well to break my rule. […] I gave my vote for whisky and soda as the more thorough-going drink of the two. A cocktail is seldom more than a mouthful.
  3. Proceeding from temperance.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
      The temperate sleeps, and spirits light as air.
  4. Living in an environment that is temperate, not extreme.
    temperate fishes

Synonyms

  • (moderate): See also Thesaurus:moderate
  • (moderate in the indulgence of the natural appetites or passions): See also Thesaurus:temperate and Thesaurus:sober

Derived terms

  • (geology) temperate zone, that part of the earth which lies between either tropic and the corresponding polar circle; -- so called because the heat is less than in the torrid zone, and the cold less than in the frigid zones.

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Verb

temperate (third-person singular simple present temperates, present participle temperating, simple past and past participle temperated)

  1. (obsolete) To render temperate; to moderate
    Synonyms: soften, temper
    • 1613, John Marston, The Insatiate Countess
      It inflames temperance, and temp'rates wrath.

Translations

References

  • temperate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

Italian

Verb

temperate

  1. second-person plural present indicative of temperare
  2. second-person plural imperative of temperare
  3. feminine plural of temperato

Latin

Verb

temperāte

  1. first-person plural present active imperative of temperō

References

  • temperate in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • temperate in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
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