Meaning & use
temperature
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
How hot or cold a place, object or substance is, shown as a number on a scale.
Grammar: Countable for a particular reading: the temperature dropped; uncountable in general science use.
Patterns
- the temperature of something
- at a temperature of something
The temperature fell below zero overnight.
Water boils at a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius.
Check the temperature of the oven before you start baking.
nounsingularmedical
A body heat level higher than normal, a sign of illness.
Grammar: Used with a: she has a temperature, meaning a fever.
Patterns
- have a temperature
- run a temperature
The child has a temperature and should stay home.
The nurse took his temperature before the check-up.
If you run a temperature for three days, see a doctor.
nounsingularfigurative
The general level of excitement or tension in a situation.
Grammar: Figurative use, normally with the: the temperature of the debate.
Patterns
- lower the temperature
- the temperature of something
The mayor tried to lower the temperature of the debate.
Tempers rose and the temperature in the room climbed.
Her calm voice brought the temperature down.
Word forms
| plural | temperatures |
|---|
Common combinations
- room temperature
- Let the butter come to room temperature.
- high temperature
- A high temperature can damage the machine.
- take someone's temperature
- The nurse took her temperature with a small thermometer.
- temperatures drop
- Temperatures dropped sharply after sunset.
- body temperature
- Normal body temperature is about 37 degrees Celsius.
- set the temperature
- Set the temperature to 20 degrees.
Synonyms and how they differ
- heat
- Heat describes warmth or the energy that causes it, and it does not name a measured degree the way temperature does.
- fever
- Fever names a high body temperature caused by illness, so it is narrower than temperature.
- climate
- Climate means weather patterns over many years, while temperature is the reading at one moment.
- warmth
- Warmth is a pleasant level of heat and has no connection to a scale or number.
Word family
- temperate adjective
- mild, neither very hot nor very cold
- thermometer noun
- an instrument for measuring temperature
- temper verb
- to make milder or to adjust the hardness of metal
- temperament noun
- a person's natural character
Commonly confused: temperature or weather? temperature or climate?
temperature vs weather
Weather means the conditions outside such as rain and wind, while temperature is just how hot or cold it is.
temperature vs climate
Climate is the typical weather of a region over many years, not the temperature on a given day.
Practice
The nurse thought the boy was ill because he was running a ______.
Choose one answer.
Run a temperature means have a fever. A thermostat is a device that controls heat, so it cannot be 'run' as an illness sign.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “temperature”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.