tempered

in a sentence

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The loss she felt when her husband died is tempered by the joy of her new grandchild.

I watched from the bar, my anxiety tempered somewhat by my double scotch.  (source) John Berendt, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, 1994

There is hope in Baldwin's last paragraph, but it is hope tempered by knowledge of terrible dangers.  (source) Thomas C. Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, 2003

I was fascinated with the way that human beings had grappled with the ideas of absolute evil and absolute good tempered with love and free will.  (source) Cassandra Clare, City of Heavenly Fire, 2014

"For woman is yin," she cried sadly, "the darkness within, where untempered passions lie.†  (source) Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club, 1989

She huffed, kicked bad-temperedly at the desk.†  (source) J. D. Robb, Glory in Death, 1995

Any enjoyment of his own success had to be tempered by a hard, cold reality.  (source) Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, 2001

Some were fascinated by the untempered race of man.†  (source) Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes, 2015

It was a case of two dogs playing on a hearth-rug; one worrying a paper screw, snarling, snapping, giving a pinch, now and then, at the old dog's ear; the other lying somnolent, blinking at the fire, raising a paw, turning and growling good-temperedly.†  (source) Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, 1925

There's a sadness in her expression tempered by hope.  (source) Christina Garcia, Dreaming in Cuban, 1992

Because of the universal respect the regent enjoyed—from both black and white—and the seemingly untempered power that he wielded, I saw chieftaincy as being the very center around which life revolved.†  (source) Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, 1994

Lawson stared ill-temperedly at his picture.†  (source) W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, 1915

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.  (source) John F. Kennedy, Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, 1961

They found a tempered pickaxe in Galilee, dating from around 1000 to 1100 BCE.

Tempered glass is also called safety glass because, in addition to being stronger, when it shatters it breaks into small beads instead of long sharp shards.

And the glass is tempered, set in a steel frame.  (source) Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park, 1993

Proud Agamemnon, leader of the host, brittle as badly tempered iron.  (source) Madeline Miller, Circe, 2018

Forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe.  (source) Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief, 2005

All steel must be tempered— subjected to great heat, almost enough to melt or destroy the metal—to make it stronger.  (source) Cassandra Clare, City of Heavenly Fire, 2014

It could be beaten like copper, and polished like glass; and the Dwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder than tempered steel.  (source) J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, 1954

It was a complete set, made of specially tempered steel, the latest designs in drills, punches, braces and bits, jimmies, clamps, and augers, with two or three novelties, invented by Jimmy himself, in which he took pride.  (source) O. Henry, A Retrieved Reformation, 1905

Conscious of his own infirmity—that his tempered steel and elasticity are lost—he for ever afterwards looks wistfully about him in quest of support external to himself.  (source) Nathanial Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 1850

There was a note in his father's voice that startled Jace—a fierce humility that seemed to temper Valentine's pride, as steel might be tempered by fire.  (source) Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes, 2008

After that episode, the visitor lodge had been reworked with heavy barred gates, a high perimeter fence, and tempered-glass windows.  (source) Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park, 1993

Not good because it was handsome, but because it was itself, like fine metal, tempered and beaten for strength.  (source) Madeline Miller, Circe, 2018

The other is tempered steel.  (source) Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief, 2005

Nobody wants to work with her because she is bad-tempered.

A reckless, hot-tempered boy, cocky and scared stiff at the same time.  (source) S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders, 1967

He wanted to be sure nobody had booby-trapped the toilet with foul-tempered reptiles again.  (source) Carl Hiassen, Hoot, 2002

By 1932, the modest, mild-tempered Cunningham, whose legs and back were covered in a twisting mesh of scars, was becoming a national sensation, soon to be acclaimed as the greatest miler in American history.  (source) Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken, 2010

He was always ill-tempered when the sun was high.  (source) Madeline Miller, Circe, 2018

Some distance separated the bulls from each other, for they are bad-tempered, very jealous by nature and quick to fight over anything that displeases them.  (source) Scott O'Dell, Island of the Blue Dolphins, 1960

She had such a sweet-tempered disposition, it was impossible to stay angry with her.†  (source) John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany, 1989

And short-tempered!  (source) Sid Fleischman, The Whipping Boy, 1986

Humiliation, rage, and disbelief all played across his typically even-tempered face.†  (source) Kiera Cass, The Selection, 2012

Flintstone, who's my age, with his big head and bushy unibrow; Tank, the skinny, quick-tempered farm boy; Dumbo, the twelve-year-old with the big ears and quick smile that disappeared quickly during the first week of basic; Poundcake, the eight-year-old who never talks, but who's our best shot by far; Oompa, the chubby kid with the crooked teeth who's last in every drill but first in chow line; and finally the youngest, Teacup, the meanest seven-year-old you'll ever meet, the most gung ho of all of us, who worships the ground Reznik walks on, no matter how much she's screamed at or kicked around.†  (source) Rick Yancey, The 5th Wave, 2013

Now, Miss Kenton, there is no need to become so bad tempered.†  (source) Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day, 1989

And besides, these students are generally such pleasant people; so kind and sweet tempered; so humble, and at the same time so anxious to teach everybody all that they know.†  (source) William Morris, News from Nowhere, 1890

Outside, the spring rains resume ill-temperedly.  (source) Christina Garcia, Dreaming in Cuban, 1992