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temperature

temperature

955 1.0
How hot or cold something is
  • noun
  • /ˈtɛmpərətʃər/
translation icon : temperatura
  • Despite the cool late-afternoon temperature, she had on only her thin doctor's white jacket.
  • high temperatures
  • air temperature
  • ambient temperature

And we don't know how to sustain life under temperatures that hot so.

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Examples

  • Pat, the cooler temperatures here today certainly have not stopped people from showing up.

  • It's best to take the temperature of the meat with an instant-read thermometer.

  • So I will be testing the temperature of the skin.

  • We argue about the temperature of the house daily.

  • We really should get back before the temperature drops.

  • You know what the average temperature is in San Diego?

  • Everything else is subject to the ambient temperature in their environment.

  • The day was gray, and though the temperature was mild, the air felt chilly.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Rome was insupportable, and even in the Hills the temperature at noon was over a hundred.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Eggplants very much enjoy warm summer temperatures where they originate from.

Idioms

To reach the same temperature as the room after being cold or hot

Compounds

The warmth of a person's or animal's body that shows if they are healthy

The usual comfortable indoor temperature is about 20 to 22 degrees Celsius or 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit

A higher than normal level of heat in the air

A rise or fall in how hot something is

Body heat higher than normal that usually means a fever

temperature gradient
  • Specialized
2 5.3

A change in temperature over a distance, for example up a mountain

absolute temperature
  • Specialized
1 6.3

Temperature measured from absolute zero and shown on the Kelvin scale

1 4.4

The temperature you measure right after waking and before you move or eat

basal temperature
  • Specialized
1 5.5

Body temperature measured in the morning before getting up

A drop in the temperature of something

temperature scale
  • Specialized
1 3.0

A system for measuring how hot something is using units like Celsius and Fahrenheit

A natural way for a woman to find her fertile days by taking her temperature every morning

A natural way to avoid pregnancy by checking a woman's daily morning temperature to find days she can get pregnant

Curie temperature
  • Specialized
7.4

The temperature above which a magnetic material loses its strong magnetism and becomes weakly magnetic

Very hot weather when you need to drink a lot of water

standard temperature
  • Specialized
3.9

A temperature of exactly zero degrees Celsius that scientists use as a reference

How Hot

boiling point
  • Specialized
4 3.4
heat
583 1.0
temperature
955 1.0
warmth
90 1.0
coolness
6 1.0
cold
131 1.0

Surface Forms

temperature singular
temperatures plural

Morphology

temperature = temperate (semi-transparent) = temper + ature

The noun is formed from the adjective 'temperate' (moderate), so the relation is clear in part, but the specific measurement sense 'degree of heat' and the non-productive suffix '-ure' are not fully obvious to learners.

Etymology

The word temperature comes from the Latin root temper-, from temperare, which means 'to mix' or 'to make steady'. Think of English temper or temperate, both about balance, so temperature is the measure of how hot or cold something is — the 'balance' of heat in it.