Meaning & use
distemper
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Meanings
noununcountablemedical
A serious infectious disease of dogs and some other animals, caused by a virus and often affecting the lungs and nervous system.
Grammar: Uncountable: talk about distemper in general, or a case of distemper for one animal.
Patterns
- distemper in something
- a case of distemper
- the distemper virus
The puppy was vaccinated against distemper and other common diseases.
Distemper spreads easily between dogs that live close together.
Wild animals such as foxes can also catch distemper.
noununcountableold-fashioned
A kind of paint mixed with water and glue, used especially in the past for walls and for painting pictures.
Grammar: Also uncountable; often used before another noun, as in 'distemper paint'.
Patterns
- distemper paint
- painted in distemper
The old walls had been painted with distemper, which was cheap and quick to apply.
She used distemper rather than oil paint for the large wall panels.
Common combinations
- catch distemper
- Unvaccinated puppies can catch distemper from other dogs.
- a distemper outbreak
- A distemper outbreak in the shelter forced it to close for two weeks.
- vaccinate against distemper
- Vets usually vaccinate against distemper, hepatitis and parvovirus.
- canine distemper
- Canine distemper can damage the brain and cause fits.
Synonyms and how they differ
- canine distemper
- The fuller technical name for the same dog disease; use it when you want to be precise or avoid confusion with the paint.
Word family
- distempered adjective
- Suffering from distemper, or (of a wall) painted with distemper.
Commonly confused: distemper or distemper vs. temper?
distemper vs distemper vs. temper
'Temper' means a person's mood or a bad mood; 'distemper' is the animal disease or the paint. The prefix 'dis-' makes it a completely different word.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'distemper' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Distemper' is uncountable, so it takes no article and no plural: 'had distemper'. Option A wrongly adds 'a', option C wrongly makes it plural, and option D uses a noun where an adjective would be needed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “distemper”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.