temperature
noun
Simple meaning
The somatic sensation of cold or heat.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tehmpruhcherSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɛmpɹətʃɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The somatic sensation of cold or heat
A measure of cold or heat, often measurable with a thermometer.
An elevated body temperature, as present in many illnesses; fever.
thermodynamics
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.
figurativecolloquial
The general mood.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The somatic sensation of cold or heat
Used this way, temperature is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use temperature
- “You have a temperature. I think you should stay home today. You're sick.”noun
- “The temperature in the room dropped nearly 20 degrees; it went from hot to cold.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A process whereby the degree of hotness of a body (or medium) changes.
Change in temperature as a function of distance (especially altitude).
The process of becoming cooler.
A system of measuring temperature.
A unit of measurement for temperature.
Body temperature in the morning before rising or moving about or eating anything.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.