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TEMPERAMENT
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
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)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Your usual mood
Example:
he has a happy disposition
Synonyms:
disposition; temperament
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
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"):
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)
agreeability; agreeableness (a temperamental disposition to be agreeable)
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 3
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)
Context examples:
They were not bound to regard with affection a thing that could not sympathise with one amongst them; a heterogeneous thing, opposed to them in temperament, in capacity, in propensities; a useless thing, incapable of serving their interest, or adding to their pleasure; a noxious thing, cherishing the germs of indignation at their treatment, of contempt of their judgment.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Jim was a plumber's apprentice whose weak chin and hedonistic temperament, coupled with a certain nervous stupidity, promised to take him nowhere in the race for bread and butter.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
If there be anything behind this instinct it will be valuable to trace it afterwards accurately, so I had better commence to do so, therefore— R. M. Renfield, ætat 59. Sanguine temperament; great physical strength; morbidly excitable; periods of gloom, ending in some fixed idea which I cannot make out.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
But I found out afterwards that he was a mild man of a heavy temperament, whose place in the business was to keep himself in the background, and be constantly exhibited by name as the most obdurate and ruthless of men.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
To a man of philosophic temperament like myself the blood-tick, with its lancet-like proboscis and its distending stomach, is as beautiful a work of Nature as the peacock or, for that matter, the aurora borealis.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
As this was a great deal for the carrier (whose name was Mr. Barkis) to say—he being, as I observed in a former chapter, of a phlegmatic temperament, and not at all conversational—I offered him a cake as a mark of attention, which he ate at one gulp, exactly like an elephant, and which made no more impression on his big face than it would have done on an elephant's.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
To a certain temperament the situation might have seemed intriguing—my own instinct was to telephone immediately for the police.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of the creative temperament—it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
