Adjective

(-)

Of one's disposition.

The Pyncheon Elm, throughout its great circumference, was all alive, and full of the morning sun and a sweet-tempered little breeze, which lingered within this verdant sphere, and set a thousand leafy tongues a-whispering all at once. This aged tree appeared to have suffered nothing from the gale.'' — Nathaniel Hawthorne, ''The House of the Seven Gables , Chapter 19.

Pertaining to the metallurgical process for finishing metals.

1851' ''"Not forged!" and snatching Perth's levelled iron from the crotch, Ahab held it out, exclaiming -- "Look ye, Nantucketer; here in this hand I hold his death! '''Tempered''' in blood, and '''tempered by lightning are these barbs; and I swear to temper them triply in that hot place behind the fin, where the white whale most feels his accursed life!"'' — Herman Melville, '' Moby Dick.

Of something moderated or balanced by other considerations.

1792' ''The downcast eye, the rosy blush, the retiring grace, are all proper in their season; but modesty, being the child of reason, cannot long exist with the sensibility that is not '''tempered by reflection'' — Mary Wollstonecraft, '' A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

(music) Pertaining to the well-tempered scale, where the twelve notes per octave of the standard keyboard are tuned in such a way that it is possible to play music in any major or minor key and it will not sound perceptibly out of tune.

Adjective

(en adjective)

Having undergone a course of training (sometimes in combination).

*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=19 citation , passage=As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.}}

Manipulated in shape or habit.