attemper

American  

[uh-tem-per] / əˈtɛm pər /

verb (used with object)

Archaic.

1. to modify or moderate by mixing or blending with something different or opposite.

2. to regulate or modify the temperature of.

3. to soothe; mollify; mitigate.

4. to accommodate; adapt (usually followed byto ).

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attemper British  

/ əˈtɛmpə /

verb

1. to modify by blending; temper

2. to moderate or soothe

3. to accommodate or bring into harmony

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Other Word Forms

• attemperment
  noun
• unattempered
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of attemper

1325–75; Middle English attemperen < Latin attemperāre to adjust ( see at-, temper); replacing Middle English attempren < Middle French attemprer < Latin, as above

Example Sentences

We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of things; we should attemper our brightness,

From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022

We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of things; we should attemper our brightness, and bring ourselves into agreement with the obscurity of others.

From The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its Characteristics by Legge, James

They are sometimes a little faulty in rhyme and melody: but they are never lame from imbecility. ——he has the happiest wit, Who has discretion to attemper it.

From Bibliomania; or Book-Madness A Bibliographical Romance by Dibdin, Thomas Frognall

Then to the spring attemper thou thy thought, And let advice rear up thy drooping mind, And leave to weep thy woes unto the wind.

From Elizabethan Sonnet Cycles Phillis - Licia by Crow, Martha Foote

It was evident that neither fire nor clothing would, in an habitation like that, attemper the chilling blasts.

From Ormond, Volume I (of 3) or, The Secret Witness by Brown, Charles Brockden