temperance
[tem-per-uh ns, tem-pruh ns]
- moderation or self-restraint in action, statement, etc.; self-control.
- habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion, especially in the use of alcoholic liquors.
- total abstinence from alcoholic liquors.
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Origin of temperance
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
controlstoicismself-denialmeasuremortificationteetotalismabstemiousnesscontinencesobernessdiscretionself-controlfrugalitysobrietyrestraintsacrificeprudenceprohibitionmoderationausterityconstraintExamples from the Web for temperance
Contemporary Examples
More importantly, Longworth viewed wine as a critical piece of the temperance movement.
Resistance to “The Star-Spangled Banner” also flared among blacks, pacifists, and advocates of temperance.
Star-Spangled Confederates: How Southern Sympathizers Decided Our National AnthemJefferson Morley
July 4, 2013
Historical Examples
This from the leader of the temperance movement in Radville?
The Fortune HunterLouis Joseph Vance
Economy may be styled the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance, and the mother of Liberty.
Self-HelpSamuel Smiles
Temperance in diet and exercise, with frequent washing and bathing, are the best means of preserving a healthful countenance.
But let me ask you another question: Has excess of pleasure any affinity to temperance?
The RepublicPlato
Do you observe that we were not far wrong in our guess that temperance was a sort of harmony?
The RepublicPlato
temperance
- restraint or moderation, esp in yielding to one's appetites or desires
- abstinence from alcoholic drink
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin temperantia, from temperāre to regulate
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for temperance
n.
mid-14c., "self-restraint, moderation," from Anglo-French temperaunce (mid-13c.), from Latin temperantia "moderation," from temperans, present participle of temperare "to moderate" (see temper). Latin temperantia was used by Cicero to translate Greek sophrosyne "moderation." In English, temperance was used to render Latin continentia or abstinentia, specifically in reference to drinking alcohol and eating; hence by early 1800s it came to mean "abstinence from alcoholic drink."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
temperance
(tĕm′pər-əns, tĕm′prəns)- Moderation and self-restraint, as in behavior or expression.
- Restraint in the use of or abstinence from alcoholic liquors.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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