inˈtemperateness Now rare.
[f. as prec. + -ness.]
The quality of being intemperate.
1. Excessive or extreme character of air or climate; inclemency, severity; = intemperance 1.
| 1555 Eden Decades 75 Theyr countenaunces doo declare the intemperatenes of the ayer and region of Dariena. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 77 The foresaid intemperatenesse of cold pressing great part of Germany..they use hot stoves. 1685 Boyle Salub. Air 51 Divers Diseases..referr'd to manifest Intemperatenesses of the air, in point of heat, cold, Moisture. 1764 Harmer Observ. xviii. viii. 351 The intemperateness of the weather however obliged them..to desist. |
2. Want of moderation, excess in any action, esp. in passion or indulgence; = intemperance 2.
| 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. lix. 6 David was..cleere from all troublesome intemperatnes. 1614 Bp. Hall Heaven upon Earth §7 For a Christian to excuse his intemperatenesse..and to say, I am borne cholericke, sullen, amorous, is an Apologie worse then the fault. 1653 Manton Exp. James i. 26 The quality of men's religion may be discerned by the intemperateness of their language. 1880 G. Meredith Tragic Com. (1881) 307 [He] was getting to purer fires through his coarser when the final intemperateness drove him to ruin. |