- the combination of mental, physical, and emotional traits of a person; natural predisposition.
- 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.
- (old physiology) the combination of the four cardinal humors, the relative proportions of which were supposed to determine physical and mental constitution.
- Music.
- 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.
- a particular system of doing this.
- an act of tempering or moderating.
- climate.
- an individual's character, disposition, and tendencies as revealed in his reactions
- excitability, moodiness, or anger, esp when displayed openly
- the characteristic way an individual behaves, esp towards other people
- an adjustment made to the frequency differences between notes on a keyboard instrument to allow modulation to other keys
- 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
- the characteristic way an individual behaves, viewed as the result of the influence of the four humours (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile)
- compromise or adjustment
- an obsolete word for temperature
