- 1
A measure of cold or heat, often measurable with a thermometer.countableuncountable
- The boiling temperature of pure water is 100 degrees Celsius.
- The temperature in the room dropped nearly 20 degrees; it went from hot to cold.
- 2
An elevated body temperature, as present in many illnesses; fever.countableuncountable
- You have a temperature. I think you should stay home today. You’re sick.
- 3
A property of macroscopic amounts of matter that serves to gauge the average intensity of the random actual motions of the individually mobile particulate constituents.countableuncountable
- In consequence, macroscopic amounts of matter in thermal contact with one another tend to be at the same temperature, a fact of sufficient fundamental importance to merit belated designation as the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics.
- 4
A parameter that controls the degree of randomness of the output.countableuncountable
- 5
The general mood.colloquialcountablefiguratively
- But it is both easier and more accurate to take the industry's true temperature at small private gatherings like a conference organized by the Ziff Davis publishing company in northern California last week.
- [Stephen] Miller's words did not seem designed to lower the temperature.
- 6
The state or condition of being tempered or moderated.countableobsoleteuncountable
- 7
The balance of humours in the body, or one's character or outlook as considered determined from this; temperament.archaiccountableuncountable
- Only a strong dose of love will cure / A woman with an angry temperature.
syn. temperature