Meaning & use
temperance
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Meanings
noununcountable
Self-control and moderation in what you do, eat, drink or feel.
Grammar: Uncountable: practice temperance.
Patterns
- temperance in something
He showed temperance and stopped after one dessert.
Temperance in speech avoids quarrels.
She praised temperance as a virtue.
noununcountableold-fashioned
The practice of not drinking alcohol, or a movement that urged people to avoid it.
Grammar: Often used before a noun: temperance movement.
Patterns
- temperance movement
- temperance society
The temperance movement grew in the nineteenth century.
He signed a pledge of temperance.
Common combinations
- temperance movement
- The temperance movement closed bars.
- practice temperance
- Try to practice temperance.
- temperance in
- Temperance in eating helps health.
- temperance society
- A temperance society met weekly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- moderation
- Everyday and general.
- restraint
- Stresses holding yourself back.
- abstinence
- Means total avoidance, while temperance means moderate.
Opposites
Word family
- temperate adjective
- moderate; mild in climate
- intemperance noun
- lack of moderation
Commonly confused: temperance or temperature?
temperance vs temperature
Temperature is how hot or cold something is.
Practice
Temperance in the old sense meant:
Choose one answer.
The temperance movement campaigned against drinking alcohol.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “temperance”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.