temperance n 🔊

1. (uncountable)
   1. Moderation or self-control in any action; control of the desire to act emotionally; calmness; (countable) an instance of this.
      1. (dated) Restraint or self-control when made angry or frustrated; forbearance.
   2. (Habitual) moderation in regard to the indulgence of natural appetites and passions; moderate or restrained indulgence.
      1. Moderation in the use of intoxicating substances; sobriety; specifically, complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages; teetotalism.
      2. (dated) Synonym of chastity (“abstinence from any sexual activity considered immoral”).
2. (obsolete, uncountable)
   1. The action of bringing to a temperate or moderate state.
   2. Proper moderation between extreme or opposing qualities.
   3. Temperature which is neither too cold nor too hot.

temperance adj

1. Advocating or practising complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages.

☞ The American temperance reformer and suffragist Frances Willard, who served as president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, was born on this day in 1839.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day/2026/September_28