distemper
/dɪsˈtɛmpə(ɹ)/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.36 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A viral disease of animals, such as dogs and cats, characterised by fever, coughing and catarrh.
Countable; Uncountable
verb
To temper or mix unduly; to make disproportionate; to change the due proportions of.
verb
To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle; to make disaffected, ill-humoured, or malignant.
verb
To intoxicate.
Example Sentences
- "[…] and is the onlie laſt remedie for all debilities which haue long vexed the body through a hote diſtemper of the Lever, ſuch as a hote Gutte; it allayeth all Inflamations inward & outward."
- "O perplex'd diſcompoſition, O ridling diſtemper, O miſerable condition of Man."
- "[M]y spirits began to sink under the Burden of a strong Distemper, and Nature was exhausted with the Violence of the Fever […]"
- "Guildenstern. The King, sir— Hamlet. Ay, sir, what of him? Guildenstern. Is in his retirement, marvellous distemper’d. Hamlet. With drink, sir? Guildenstern. No, my lord; rather with choler."
- "The imagination, when completely distempered, is the most incurable of all disordered faculties."
- "To some extent the Nore Mutiny may be regarded as analogous to the distempering irruption of contagious fever in a frame constitutionally sound, and which anon throws it off."
Etymology
From Old French destemprer, from Latin distemperare.
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /dɪsˈtɛmpə(ɹ)/
Usage
Inflected Forms
distempers (plural)
distempers (present, singular)
distempering (participle, present)
distempered (participle, past)
distempered (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
distempered (first person, past)
distemperest (archaic, present)
distempered (past, second person)
distemperedst (archaic, past)
distempereth (archaic, present)