phlegmatic

phleg·mat·ic

adjective \fleg-ˈma-tik\

Definition of PHLEGMATIC

1

: resembling, consisting of, or producing the humor phlegm(see phlegm)

2

: having or showing a slow and stolid temperament

— phleg·mat·i·cal·ly \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

Examples of PHLEGMATIC

1. <a strangely phlegmatic response to what should have been happy news>
2. Some people are phlegmatic, some highly strung. Some are anxious, others risk-seeking. Some are confident, others shy. Some are quiet, others loquacious. We call these differences personality … —Matt Ridley, Genome, 1999
3. Why would a man live like this? Alone on the godforsaken prairie surrounded by whispering cornfields and phlegmatic Swedes if instead you could go to picture shows and snazzy restaurants and dance with a beautiful woman with her head on your shoulder and her perfume driving you wild? —Garrison Keillor, WLT: A Radio Romance, 1991
4. But Einstein was phlegmatic: when a book was published entitled 100 Authors Against Einstein, he retorted, “If I were wrong, then one would have been enough!” —Stephen W. Hawking, A Brief History of Time, 1988

Origin of PHLEGMATIC

(see phlegm)

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to PHLEGMATIC

Synonyms

affectless, apathetic, cold-blooded, emotionless, impassible, numb, passionless, impassive, stoic (or stoical), stolid, undemonstrative, unemotional

Antonyms

demonstrative, emotional, fervent, fervid, hot-blooded, impassioned, passional, passionate, vehement

Related Words

cold, cool, dispassionate, unmoved; calm, collected, composed; imperturbable, unflappable; reserved, reticent, taciturn; bland, blank, deadpan, dry, empty, expressionless, inexpressive, stone-faced, straight-faced, vacant, wooden; enigmatic (also enigmatical), impenetrable, inscrutable; aloof, bloodless, detached, indifferent, insensible, unconcerned, unsentimental; impersonal, objective, unresponsive; hard-hearted, pitiless, unfeeling; inconsiderate, thoughtless

Near Antonyms

blazing, burning, fiery, flaming, glowing, red-hot; ardent, enthusiastic, gung ho, warm-blooded, zealous; gushing, maudlin, mawkish, mushy, sentimental; dramatic, histrionic, melodramatic, overemotional, overheated, perfervid; compassionate, responsive, sympathetic; reactive, sensitive

See Synonym Discussion at impassive

Other Physiology Terms

eructation, flux, gustatory, menarche, myopia, senescence, torpor

Rhymes with PHLEGMATIC

agnatic, aquatic, asthmatic, Carnatic, chromatic, climatic, comatic, dalmatic, dogmatic, dramatic, ecstatic, emphatic, erratic, eustatic, fanatic, hepatic, judgmatic, komatik, lymphatic, magmatic, neumatic, plasmatic, pneumatic, pragmatic, prismatic, protatic, quadratic, rheumatic, schematic, schismatic, sciatic, Socratic, somatic, spermatic, stigmatic, sylvatic, thematic, traumatic, villatic

phleg·mat·ic

adjective \fleg-ˈmat-ik\   (Medical Dictionary)

Medical Definition of PHLEGMATIC

1

: resembling, consisting of, or producing the humor phlegm

2

: having or showing a slow and stolid temperament

—phleg·mat·i·cal·ly \-i-k(ə-)lē\ (audio pronunciation) adverb