TEMPERED

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tempered mean? 

• TEMPERED (adjective)
  The adjective TEMPERED has 2 senses:

1. made hard or flexible or resilient especially by heat treatment

2. adjusted or attuned by adding a counterbalancing element

  Familiarity information: TEMPERED used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TEMPERED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Made hard or flexible or resilient especially by heat treatment

Synonyms:

hardened; tempered; toughened; treated

Context example:

tempered glass

Similar:

curable (capable of being hardened by some additive or other agent)

sunbaked (baked or hardened by exposure to sunlight; not burned)

Antonym:

untempered (not brought to a proper consistency or hardness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Adjusted or attuned by adding a counterbalancing element

Context example:

criticism tempered with kindly sympathy

Antonym:

untempered (not moderated or controlled)

 Context examples 

You are so good, and so sweet-tempered.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I regard Louisa Musgrove as a very amiable, sweet-tempered girl, and not deficient in understanding, but Benwick is something more.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

“I did not think you had been so obstinate, Catherine,” said James; “you were not used to be so hard to persuade; you once were the kindest, best-tempered of my sisters.”

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

She is pretty, and she is good tempered, and that is all.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I know I have no right to talk so to you, Laurie, and if you weren't the sweetest-tempered fellow in the world, you'd be very angry with me.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He is a sweet-tempered, amiable, charming man.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

"And what a sweet-tempered forehead he has!" cried Louisa,—"so smooth—none of those frowning irregularities I dislike so much; and such a placid eye and smile!"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There was gladness and mirth and peace everywhere, for we were at rest ourselves on one account, and we were glad, though it was with a tempered joy.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

She thought he was really good-tempered, and could fancy his entering into a plan of that sort most pleasantly.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

“Black” Burton, a man evil-tempered and malicious, had been picking a quarrel with a tenderfoot at the bar, when Thornton stepped good-naturedly between.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)