1
as in alcoholism
habitual or excessive drinking of intoxicants in his harangue on the perils of drink, the prohibitionist claimed that intemperance has always been the number one destroyer of marriages

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2
as in excessiveness
a propensity for extremes in one's actions, beliefs, or habits there's a wearisome intemperance in his verbal attacks against any and all who dare to disagree with him

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of intemperance But in 1832, people believed cholera was linked to intemperance and vice, which were thought to weaken the body. William E. Watson, The Conversation, 1 Aug. 2025 Johnson was also a movement candidate, propelled into office by energized unions, frustrated progressives, and backlash from decades of police intemperance and economic inequality. Andy Shaw, Chicago Tribune, 21 July 2025 In a situation that forbids explicit expressions of intemperance or protest, mischief is the perfect solution. New York Times, 7 June 2022 Over a career that made headlines for landmark victories such as a six-figure judgment, later reversed, against LAPD Chief Daryl Gates, Yagman also became notorious for intemperance, most pointedly evidenced by his brutal characterization of a federal judge. Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2021 Her attention to the vibrancy of our inner lives and to the barbed pleasure of sentimental intemperance has lately become more explicit. Rachelvoronacote, Longreads, 10 Aug. 2020 The intemperance alienated some suffragists, and by 1875, when Anthony drafted the amendment that would bear her name, the movement had split. USA Today, 26 Feb. 2020 Acton, whose Catholicism shaped every facet of his thought and work, identified this excess with a certain kind of Protestant intemperance. Yuval Levin, National Review, 31 Dec. 2019 Fifty years of putting up with discrimination, hatred and intemperance. Joe Lynch, Billboard, 1 July 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for intemperance
Noun
  • Brilliant but famously difficult to work with due to his alcoholism, Lorenz Hart died the year after his collaborator Richard Rodgers launched his successful creative partnership with Oscar Hammerstein.
    Samantha Allen, Them., 2 Sep. 2025
  • Fuller, who had an absent father and mother with alcoholism, was in a crash in 2019 that left him permanently disabled and he's also been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
    Drake Bentley, jsonline.com, 29 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • The ruling landed as a symbolic rebuke of Musk’s sway over Tesla, and a warning about the excesses of Silicon Valley’s cult-of-founder ethos.
    Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 5 Sep. 2025
  • An excess of dry fuels and vegetation is compounded by fire weather conditions that are becoming more common year-round.
    John Leos, AZCentral.com, 3 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Intemperance.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/intemperance. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.

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