lukewarm
UK/ˌl(j)uːk.ˈwɔːm//ˌl(j)uk.ˈwɔɹm/
lukewarm adjective: between warm and cool.
Adjective
lukewarm (comparative lukewarmer or more lukewarm, superlative lukewarmest or most lukewarm)
- Between warm and cool.
- Wash it in lukewarm water.
- My curry is lukewarm.
- Unenthusiastic (about a proposal or an idea).
- The suggestion met with only a lukewarm response.
- The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- indifferent, unconcerned, adiaphroistic, apathetic, apathistical, blasé, blithe, deaf, cool, shiftless
lukewarm meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
lukewarm in Hindi
- temperature
- गुनगुना gungunā
lukewarm in Tamil
- மிதமான சூடு, வெதுவெதுப்பான சூடு
lukewarm in Marathi
- temperature
- कोमट komaṭ
lukewarm in Urdu
- lukewarm
- گنگنا gungunā
More languagesFewer languages
- lukewarm in Telugu
- గోరువెచ్చని gōruveccani
- lukewarm in Malayalam
- മന്ദോഷ്ണ, ചൂടുകുറഞ്ഞ, വേണ്ടത്രചൂടില്ലാത്ത, അല്പമാത്രം ചൂടുള്ള
- lukewarm in Kannada
- ಉಗುರು ಬೆಚ್ಚನೆಯ, ಮಂದೋಷ್ಣ, ಉಗುರುಬಿಸಿ, ಉತ್ಸಾಹರಹಿತ
- lukewarm in Punjabi
- ਕੋਸਾ kosā
- lukewarm in Tagalog
- maligamgam
- lukewarm in Arabic
- فَاتِر fātir
- lukewarm in Malay
- suam
- lukewarm in Indonesian
- hangat-hangat
- lukewarm in Persian
- ولرم velarm
- lukewarm in Thai
- อุ่นๆ oon-oon
- lukewarm in Vietnamese
- thờ ơ, lãnh đạm, hờ hững, ấm
Examples of lukewarm in a sentence
- Had two showers, one lukewarm and one lukecool, in a cold house on successive rainy days.
- Guards brought him lukewarm phở, soup with stringy greens and various scraps of meat, fat, and vegetables.
- Maybe in a lukewarm shower if the Bbros were off property.
Synonyms of lukewarm
- Laodicean
- lew
- tepid
- indifferent
- unconcerned
- adiaphroistic
- apathetic
- apathistical
- blasé
- blithe
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of lukewarm
| comparative | lukewarmer |
|---|---|
| comparative | more lukewarm |
| superlative | lukewarmest |
| superlative | most lukewarm |
Origin of lukewarm
From Middle English leukwarm, lukewarm (“lukewarm, tepid”), equivalent to luke (“lukewarm”) + warm. Compare Saterland Frisian luukwoarm (“lukewarm”), German Low German luukwarm (“lukewarm”); first element is related to Dutch leuk (“lukewarm”), as in leukwater (“lukewarm water”). Compare also West Frisian lijwarm (“lukewarm”), Afrikaans louwarm (“lukewarm”), German Low German lowarm, luwarm (“lukewarm”), German lauwarm (“lukewarm”). First element believed to be an alteration of Middle English lew (“tepid”) (> English dialectal lew), from Old English *hlēowe (“warm, sunny”), from Proto-Germanic *hliwjaz, *hlēwaz, *hlūmaz, *hleumaz (“warm”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱal(w)e-, *ḱel(w)e-, *k(')lēw- (“warm, hot”). Cognate with Dutch lauw (“tepid”), German lau (“lukewarm”), Faroese lýggjur (“warm”), Swedish ljum (“lukewarm”), ljummen (“lukewarm”) and ly (“warm”), Danish lummer (“muggy”), Danish and Norwegian lunken (“tepid”), dialectal Swedish ljummen (“lukewarm”).
Words formed from lukewarm
Words that rhyme with lukewarm
9 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about lukewarm
- What does lukewarm mean?
- Lukewarm means between warm and cool.
- What is lukewarm in Hindi?
- Lukewarm in Hindi is गुनगुना (gungunā). See Lukewarm meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is lukewarm?
- Lukewarm is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce lukewarm?
- Lukewarm is pronounced /ˌl(j)uːk.ˈwɔːm/ (UK).
Words near lukewarm in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lukewarm (page history and authors); lukewarm (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); گنگنا (Urdu) (page history and authors); lukewarm (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); lukewarm (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਕੋਸਾ (Punjabi) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-lukewarm.ogg.
Cite this entry: “lukewarm.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lukewarm. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.