Link Centre Dictionary

tempered

tem·pe·red

US/ˈtɛmpɜrd/ uncommon

adjective

1.

made hard or flexible or resilient especially by heat treatment

  • “a sword of tempered steel”
  • “tempered glass”
2.

adjusted or attuned by adding a counterbalancing element

  • “criticism tempered with kindly sympathy”

Origin

Partly from Middle English temperd, temprede, from Old English temprode, first and third person singular preterit of Old English temprian; and partly from Middle English tempred, i-tempred, from Old English ġetemprod. Equivalent to temper + -ed.

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.