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tepid

[tep-id]
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adjective
  1. moderately warm; lukewarm: tepid water.
  2. characterized by a lack of force or enthusiasm: tepid prose; the critics' tepid reception for the new play.
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Origin of tepid

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin tepidus lukewarm, equivalent to tep(ēre) to be lukewarm + -idus -id4
Related formste·pid·i·ty, tep·id·ness, nountep·id·ly, adverbsub·tep·id, adjectivesub·tep·id·ly, adverbsub·tep·id·ness, nounsub·te·pid·i·ty, noun

Synonyms

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1 moderate, mild. 2. unemotional, halfhearted, apathetic.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

indifferentlydelicatelymoderatelyquietlylightlycalmlygingerlykindlypatientlysoftlytenderlyblandlycompassionatelygeniallyimperturbablymeeklysoothinglytemperatelytepidlytolerantly

Examples from the Web for tepidly

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Bors reviewed his actions and could not but approve of them tepidly.

    Talents, Incorporated

    William Fitzgerald Jenkins

  • "I think Mrs. Varick is sorry to see that you have broken your promise," said Kindelon, shortly and tepidly.

  • The peculiar moving hush and tepidly stagnant air of a sick-room penetrated even through the panels.

    Joan of the Sword Hand

    S(amuel) R(utherford) Crockett

  • It was obvious that he was tepidly in love with Maud, or rather that he was anxious she should be in love with him.

    The Romance of His Life

    Mary Cholmondeley

  • “I hope you managed to get a little sleep, Mr. Melhuish,” Mrs. Jervaise said tepidly.

    The Jervaise Comedy

    J. D. Beresford

British Dictionary definitions for tepidly

tepid

adjective
  1. slightly warm; lukewarm
  2. relatively unenthusiastic or apatheticthe play had a tepid reception
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Derived Formstepidity or tepidness, nountepidly, adverb

Word Origin

C14: from Latin tepidus, from tepēre to be lukewarm
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for tepidly

tepid

adj.

c.1400, from Latin tepidus "lukewarm," from tepere "be warm," from PIE root *tep- "warm" (cf. Sanskrit tapati "makes warm, heats, burns," tapah "heat;" Avestan tafnush "fever;" Old Church Slavonic topiti "to warm," teplu "warm;" Old Irish tene "fire;" Welsh tes "heat").

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper