Meaning

Habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions; restrained or moderate indulgence..

Definitions by Sense

1. Habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions; restrained or moderate indulgence.
2. Moderation, and sometimes abstinence, in respect to using intoxicating liquors.
3. Moderation of passion; calmness.
4. (obsolete) State with regard to heat or cold; temperature.

Example Sentences

temperance in eating and drinking

temperance in the indulgence of joy

Who did begin their Feaſtes with Prayers; continue them with Temperance, and Sobrietie; eating no more then would ſuffice their hunger; drinking no more then would quench and ſatisfie their thirſt […]

On these occasions I have noticed such a dreamy, vacant expression in his eyes, that I might have suspected him of being addicted to the use of some narcotic, had not the temperance and cleanliness of his whole life forbidden such a notion.

But there was no one to shake Nero into temperance. He had affairs, drank tremendously, raised taxes in the provinces to pay for his indulgences, and started once again to hold the infamous treason trials as Caligula had done.

Another error, as it seems to me, into which the old reformers fell, was the position that all habitual drunkards were utterly incorrigible, and therefore must be turned adrift and damned without remedy in order that the grace of temperance might abound, to the temperate then, and to all mankind some hundreds of years thereafter.

So now the frauds reckoned they was out of danger, and they begun to work the villages again. ¶ First they done a lecture on temperance; but they didn't make enough for them both to get drunk on.

Public-houses, besides their usual exhortation against temperance reform, invited men to “Join our Christmas goose club”—one bottle of gin, etc., or two, according to subscription.

Word Forms

• temperances
• temperaunce

Synonyms for temperance

Antonyms for temperance

Related Words

When Should You Use Temperance?

Use temperance when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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