Word.ws English Dictionary

distemperate

distemperate adjective: immoderate, excessive.

Adjective

distemperate (comparative more distemperate, superlative most distemperate)

  1. (obsolete) Immoderate, excessive.
    • Thou hast thy brain distemperate, and out of rule.
  2. (obsolete, air or elements) Not temperate, of no good influence for one's confort or soundness; (figuratively) unwholesome, stormy.
  3. (obsolete) Not properly tempered; disordered through excess or deficiency of some constituent; (by extensions, of bodily or mental condition) disordered, out of order; diseased, out of health; ill-conditioned.

Forms of distemperate

comparativemore distemperate
superlativemost distemperate

Origin of distemperate

First attested in 1398, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English distemperat(e), borrowed from Medieval Latin distemperātus (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from dis- + temperātus, perfect passive participle of temperō (“to temperate oneself, show restraint”).

Words formed from distemperate

Questions about distemperate

What does distemperate mean?
Distemperate means immoderate, excessive.
What part of speech is distemperate?
Distemperate is an adjective.

Words near distemperate in the dictionary

  1. distelic
  2. distely
  3. distemper
  4. distemperance
  5. distemperances
  6. distemperate
  7. distemperately
  8. distemperature
  9. distemperatures
  10. distempered
  11. distemperedly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: distemperate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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