noun

1. Obsolete the act or an instance of tempering; proportionate mixture or balance of ingredients
2. in medieval physiology, any of the four conditions of body and mind, the sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric (or bilious), and melancholic temperaments, attributed to an excess of one of the four corresponding humors
3. one's customary frame of mind or natural disposition; nature a man of even temperament
4. a nature that is excitable, moody, capricious, volatile, etc. the temperament of a prima donna
5. Obsolete
   1. climate
   2. temperature
6. Music a system of adjustment of the intervals between the tones of an instrument of fixed intonation: it may be pure temperament, in which the intervals are set exactly according to theory, or equal temperament, as in a piano, in which the pitch of the tones is slightly adjusted to make them suitable for all keys

Etymology: ME < L temperamentum, proper mixing < temperare: see temper