temperament

American  

[tem-per-uh-muhnt, -pruh-muhnt, -per-muhnt] / ˈtɛm pər ə mənt, -prə mənt, -pər mənt /

noun

• temperaments
  plural

1. the combination of mental, physical, and emotional traits of a person; natural predisposition.

   Synonyms:

   makeup, nature

2. unusual personal attitude or nature as manifested by peculiarities of feeling, temper, action, etc., often with a disinclination to submit to conventional rules or restraints.

3. (old physiology) the combination of the four cardinal humors, the relative proportions of which were supposed to determine physical and mental constitution.

4. Music.

   1. the tuning of a keyboard instrument, as the piano, organ, or harpsichord, so that the instrument may be played in all keys without further tuning.

   2. a particular system of doing this.

5. Archaic. an act of tempering or moderating.

6. Archaic. climate.

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temperament British  

/ ˈtɛmpərəmənt, -prəmənt /

noun

1. an individual's character, disposition, and tendencies as revealed in his reactions

2. excitability, moodiness, or anger, esp when displayed openly

   an actress with temperament

3. the characteristic way an individual behaves, esp towards other people See also character personality

4. 1. an adjustment made to the frequency differences between notes on a keyboard instrument to allow modulation to other keys

   2. any of several systems of such adjustment, such as just temperament, a system not practically possible on keyboard instruments, mean-tone temperament, a system giving an approximation to natural tuning, and equal temperament, the system commonly used in keyboard instruments, giving a scale based on an octave divided into twelve exactly equal semitones See also just intonation

5. obsolete the characteristic way an individual behaves, viewed as the result of the influence of the four humours (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile)

6. archaic compromise or adjustment

7. an obsolete word for temperature

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Synonym Usage

See disposition.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• temperaments
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of temperament

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin temperāmentum due mixture, equivalent to temperā ( re ) to mix properly + -mentum -ment

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Explanation

While a mood can change, your temperament is your overall tone most of the time. Just like dogs, people have temperaments: some are aggressive; some are playful; and some are just happy to carry your slippers. Just as a temperature gives a reading of how hot or cold something is, your temperament gives a reading of your disposition, or general outlook. Some folks with optimistic temperaments see that glass as half full; other more pessimistic folks see it as half empty. And there are still others who prefer to drink straight from the bottle.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

temperament temperaments

But European bison have "a much more difficult and slightly more aggressive temperament".

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

Tennis great John McEnroe is hardly known for his mellow temperament.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Hand him a first-class ticket to any conflict zone on Earth and his diplomatic temperament would ease tensions that have long bedeviled U.N. envoys.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026

Itauma's trainer Ben Davison, who also worked with Joshua and Fury, believes he has the temperament to handle what comes next.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

I knew the baroness to be stingy, rigid, and mean—the perfect temperament to throw a well-run school into turmoil.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

A key to Mr. Barnes’s books is that in style as well as form he is a hybridizer, able to combine seemingly contrary temperaments into a single writing voice.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026

"They all had quite different temperaments for different points in the film," she noted.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2025

Subsequent synthetics display a range of temperaments, from Lance Henriksen’s Bishop, realistic enough to pass for human, to Michael Fassbender’s David 8, the earliest Weyland-Yutani invention to achieve a lifelike version of artificial intelligence.

From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2025

Their backgrounds and temperaments could hardly be more different, yet both sense in each other a missing piece.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2025

This made well temperaments particularly welcome for players of difficult-to-tune instruments like the harpsichord and piano.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

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Related Words

• attitude
• ego
• humor
• idiosyncrasy
• inclination
• individuality
• intellect
• mentality
• mettle
• mood
• nature
• outlook
• quality
• spirit
• tendency

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