temperature

English

Etymology

Borrowed from LatinCategory:English terms borrowed from Latin#TEMPERATURECategory:English terms derived from Latin#TEMPERATURE temperātūra[1] (cf. also French température), from the past participle stem of tempero (to temper).

Pronunciation

Noun

temperature (countable and uncountable, plural temperatures)Category:English lemmas#TEMPERATURECategory:English nouns#TEMPERATURECategory:English uncountable nouns#TEMPERATURECategory:English countable nouns#TEMPERATURECategory:English countable nouns#TEMPERATURECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TEMPERATURECategory:Pages with entries#TEMPERATURECategory:Pages with 4 entries#TEMPERATURE

  1. A measure of cold or heat, often measurable with a thermometer.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:temperature
    The boiling temperature of pure water is 100 degrees Celsius.Category:English terms with usage examples#TEMPERATURE
    The temperature in the room dropped nearly 20 degrees; it went from hot to cold.Category:English terms with usage examples#TEMPERATURE
    The most accurate way to take your temperature is by sticking a thermometer up your butt.Category:English terms with usage examples#TEMPERATURE
    • 2013 May 11, “The climate of Tibet: Pole-land”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8835, archived from the original on 6 August 2020, page 80:
      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.
      Category:English terms with quotations#TEMPERATURE
    • 2018 January 4, Janie Tankard Carnock, “Frigid Baltimore City schools: The racism we haven’t confronted”, in CNN:
      The opposite issue emerges in the summer when students face scorching temperatures with unreliable or nonexistent air conditioning.
      Category:English terms with quotations#TEMPERATURE
  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.Category:English terms with usage examples#TEMPERATURE
  3. (thermodynamicsCategory:en:Thermodynamics#TEMPERATURE) 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.
    • 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:
      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.
      Category:English terms with quotations#TEMPERATURE
  4. (machine learningCategory:en:Machine learning#TEMPERATURE) A parameter that controls the degree of randomness of the output.
  5. (figurative, colloquialCategory:English colloquialisms#TEMPERATURE) The general mood.
    • 2005 August 20, Seth Schiesel, “Taking the Temperature of the Creative Body”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
      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.
      Category:English terms with quotations#TEMPERATURE
    • 2025 September 13, Edward Luce, “A descent into mutual loathing”, in FT Weekend, page 7:
      [Stephen] Miller's words did not seem designed to lower the temperature.
      Category:English terms with quotations#TEMPERATURE
  6. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#TEMPERATURE) The state or condition of being tempered or moderated.
  7. (now rareCategory:English terms with rare senses#TEMPERATURE, archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#TEMPERATURE) The balance of humours in the body, or one's character or outlook as considered determined from this; temperament.

Quotations

  • 2007, James Shipman, Jerry Wilson, Aaron Todd, An Introduction to Physical Science: Twelfth Edition, pages 106–108:
    Heat and temperature, although different, are intimately related. [] For example, suppose you added equal amounts of heat to equal masses of iron and aluminum. How do you think their temperatures would change? [] if the temperature of the iron increased by 100 C°, the corresponding temperature change in the aluminum would be only 48 C°.
    Category:English terms with quotations#TEMPERATURE
    Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also

References

  1. temperature”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
Category:en:Physical quantities#TEMPERATURE

Italian

Pronunciation

Noun

temperature f plCategory:Italian non-lemma forms#TEMPERATURECategory:Italian noun forms#TEMPERATURECategory:Italian entries with incorrect language header#TEMPERATURECategory:Pages with entries#TEMPERATURECategory:Pages with 4 entries#TEMPERATURE

  1. plural of temperatura

Latin

Participle

temperātūreCategory:Latin non-lemma forms#TEMPERATURECategory:Latin participle forms#TEMPERATURECategory:Latin entries with incorrect language header#TEMPERATURECategory:Pages with entries#TEMPERATURECategory:Pages with 4 entries#TEMPERATURE

  1. vocative masculine singular of temperātūrus

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from LatinCategory:Middle French terms borrowed from Latin#TEMPERATURECategory:Middle French terms derived from Latin#TEMPERATURE temperatura.

Noun

temperature f (plural temperatures)Category:Middle French lemmas#TEMPERATURECategory:Middle French nouns#TEMPERATURECategory:Middle French entries with incorrect language header#TEMPERATURECategory:Middle French feminine nouns#TEMPERATURECategory:Pages with entries#TEMPERATURECategory:Pages with 4 entries#TEMPERATURECategory:Middle French countable nouns#TEMPERATURE

  1. disposition; habitual state; temperament
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