Both Uses of
temperate
in
Selected Tales, by Poe
- Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, during which my general temperament and character—through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance—had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical alteration for the worse.†
Scene 2intemperance = the quality of tending toward excess -- especially of weather or behaviorstandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in intemperance means not and reverses the meaning of temperance. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife.†
Scene 2 *intemperate = given to excess -- especially of weather or behaviorstandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in intemperate means not and reverses the meaning of temperate. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
Definition:
lacking extremes -- especially of weather, climate, or behavior