temper

1. 1.

   a sudden outburst of anger

   “his temper sparked like damp firewood”

   Synonymspiqueirritation

   Broaderannoyance
2. 2.

   a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling

   “whether he praised or cursed me depended on his temper at the time”

   “he was in a bad humor”

   Synonymsmoodhumorhumour

   Broaderfeeling

   Narrowerpeevesulkgood humorill humor
3. 3.

   a disposition to exhibit uncontrolled anger

   “his temper was well known to all his employees”

   Synonymsbiliousnessirritabilitypeevishnesspettishnesssnappishnesssurliness

   Broaderill nature

   Narrowerquerulousness
4. 4.

   the elasticity and hardness of a metal object; its ability to absorb considerable energy before cracking

   Synonymstoughness

   Broaderelasticity

Other forms of temper

plural

tempers·

past tense

temperred·

present participle

temperring·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about temper

What does temper mean?

temper means "bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a process of gradually heating and cooling". That is the primary sense; the word has 9 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in temper?

temper has 2 syllables: tem-per. The stress falls on "tem". In IPA it is /ˈtɛmpɚ/.

What is another word for temper?

Close synonyms include anneal, normalize, harden, season, mollify. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is temper a common word?

temper is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.